Ex-EO Panchkula and Ambala asked to pay penalty of Rs 25,000 from State Information Commissioner

The man who has taken the responsibility to make Panchkula, a developed city has been accused of not providing an RTI information on time. Ex-EO of Panchkula and Ambala, O.P Sihag, recently had created an NGO naming it All Panchkula Neighbourhood Association (APNA Panchkula) has been asked by State Information Commission to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 to be paid in government treasury. The Commission has further asked Amabala's Joint Commissioner to transfer the penalty amount from Sihag's account to the government treasury by 31st August. 

While giving the order, State Information Commissioner, Bhupinder Dharmani alleged, "Even though Sihag was asked to give explanation a lot of times, he did not provide any information on time. That is why, we have come to the conclusion of charging him a Rs.25,000 fine along with a report to be filed by the end of the month of August." 

In 2016, a resident of of Amabala's Mathura Enclave, Anil Kumar Ahluwalia had filed an RTI to ask for a specific information regarding the property on 12th August. He had again appealed on 18th July 2017 as his request wasn't answered for. Furthermore, on 1st August, 2017, he had sent a show cause notice in relation to the non availability of the information but no use. On asking Om Prakash Sihag about the case, he defended, "This is a case much before than I was in charge. I had provided the

answers from time to time and had even asked the engineers to provide me with the withheld information. I will file an appeal on the State Information Commission's order."