KOCHI: The right to information commission slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on an official who failed to reply to an RTI questionnaire. State RTI commissioner K V Sudhakaran fined Chakkamkulangara Devaswom public information officer, A R Rajeev, who is also the devaswom officer following a petition filed by M N Jayaram of Eroor West, Tripunithrua.In his complaint, the petitioner said he sought details regarding convening general body meeting and the functioning of the advisory committee of Pishari Kovil temple. He did not get reply within 90 days. And, the reply which came much late did not provide the details he had sought. It led to the situation where the petitioner faced difficulty in taking forward certain legal matters.As per Section 20 (1) of RTI Act, the commissioner asked Rajeev to reply to a show cause notice within 10 days. When he failed to respond to this directive, the RTI commissioner provided another opportunity to Rajeev and asked him to respond in seven days. However, it took him three weeks to reply, and the response was not satisfactory.Slapping fine on the erring officer, commissioner Sudhakaran observed that there was criminal negligence on Rajeev's part. Later, Rajeev remitted an amount of Rs 25,000 at Ernakulam sub-treasury and submitted the receipt before the commission.

Stay updated with all the Latest Thiruvananthapuram headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.