Dear All,
Under RTI Act, the Information commissioner is empowered to issue warrants to secure the presence of the PIO, as is evident from the latest order of the IC (nagpur).
If members come across such above order, please do email it to me and oblige.
Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal
RTI Information Commissioner (IC) issues warrant to PIO
(reproduced from Times of India, dated 02-07-2010, Mumbai edition, page no. 09)
Mumbai: In a first of its kind case, Nagpur information commissioner Vilas Patil had issued a warrant against a senior inspector of police after he failed to appear before the commission.
“Despite several notices, when the inspector failed to turn up, we invoked the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. Then a notice was served on him, stating that if he fails to turn up, a
bailable warrant will be issued against him. While the commission was in the process of issuing a warrant, the inspector presented himself before the commission,’’ a senior official said.
The case in which the senior inspector was summoned pertains to a complaint of theft of ornaments lodged with a police station in Nagpur.
When there was no progress in the investigation and no response from senior police officials, the complainant filed an application under the Right to Information Act to know about the status of the probe. However, there was no response to his right to information application too. He then filed an appeal before the Nagpur bench of the information commission.
As per the provisions of the RTI Act, Patil issued a notice to the police inspector. Then he was asked to present his case before the commission.
Despite several notices and reminders, when the inspector failed to appear before the commission, Patil invoked provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. Then the Nagpur information commissioner issued a notice, saying that if the senior inspector fails to appear before the commission, then a warrant will be issued in his name. “The inspector immediately appeared before the commission and submitted his plea,’’ he said.
On the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code, the official said if attendance of a person is essential in a particular case and if he is not cooperating, then the competent authority has powers to issue a bailable and nonbailable warrant against that person.
“Under the RTI Act, the commissioner has powers to invoke the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. Of course, for the first time, these provisions were invoked to ensure presence of the police inspector,’’ he said.
