Kerala - Kozhikode

High Court stays fine imposed on varsity official

Kozhikode: The High Court has stayed the fine imposed on an official of Calicut University by the State Information Commission for the delay in furnishing information under the Right to Information Act.

State Information Commissioner P.N. Vijayakumar had in August found Public Information Officer K.P. Sasikumar, Deputy Registrar of the Planning and Development Wing, guilty under Section 20 (1) (delay in furnishing information) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. According to the order issued by the Commissioner, he had to remit a penalty of Rs.21,250 within 30 days of the receipt of the order, failing which the amount should be recovered from his salary of the ensuing month or should be recovered by attachment and sale of his movable or immovable properties.

As per the RTI Act, the time period to get information is 30 days from the date of application and 48 hours for information concerning the life and liberty of a person.

Failure to provide information within the specified time is deemed refusal. In this case, there was a delay of 88 days. After deducting the days for receipt and despatch of information the delay was calculated to 85 days.

The applicant was the Vypeen-based Sree Ayyankali Cultural Council State general secretary P.K. Bahuleyan, who had sought information on several issues including those relating to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe.

Mr. Sasikumar had in his reply admitted the delay but also stated that there was no wilful negligence on his part for not furnishing the information within the stipulated time.

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