VASANTH RAO Vs. KARNATAKA INFORMATION COMMISSION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner filed the present writ petition for writ of Certiorari to quash the Show Cause Notices dated 26.06.2012 and 01.08.2012 passed by respondent No.1 vide Annexures-'C' and 'E' respectively and to quash the Orders dated 10.09.2012 and 02.01.2013 passed by respondent No.1 vide Annexures- 'F' and 'G' respectively.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that respondent No.2 filed an application under the provisions of the Right to Information Act , 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the ' RTI Act ' for short) as per Annexure-A dated 31.10.2011 seeking certain information about shifting the Statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar located near Vidhana Soudha under the condition that, if not removed within the time period of ten days, the work would thereafter be halted. It is further contended that by oversight and due to work load, the petitioner was unable to give the information to respondent No.2 within thirty days from the date of receipt of the application. The Respondent No.2 approached respondent No.1 to take action against the petitioner for not providing the information without approaching the First Appellate Authority under Section 18(1)(b) of the RTI Act.

(3.) On the basis of the application/complaint filed, the Commissioner issued Notice on 26.06.2012 as per Annexure-C. There is delay of 6 months in issuing the notice to the petitioner and in the said notice the respondent No.1 has directed the petitioner that he should furnish the information immediately to the respondent No.2 and file the report for sending the information along with the postal acknowledgment and also directed the petitioner to show cause why penalty should not be imposed on the petitioner under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act. Inspite of the petitioner furnishing the information sought on 01.08.2012 as per Annexure- D to the respondent No.2 and filed the explanation for causing the delay, the Commissioner issued another Show Cause Notice to the petitioner stating that why penalty should not be imposed under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act for causing the delay in providing the information as per Annexure-E dated 01.08.2012. Subsequently, Annexure-F came to be issued by respondent No.1 imposing the penalty of Rs.25,000/- to the petitioner and vide Annexure-G dated 02.01.2013, the Commissioner issued warning to the petitioner to comply with the order vide Annexure-F as per Annexure-G. Therefore, the present writ petition is filed for the relief sought for.