Commissioner of the Kalaburagi Bench of the Karnataka State Information Commission B. Venkata Singh has imposed penalties on two Deputy Directors of the Social Welfare Department for failing to furnish information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and for not complying with the commission’s orders.

According to media note released by his office, the action followed an appeal filed by Rangalinga Gouda of Raichur who said that information sought under the RTI Act has not been provided even after two years.

After hearing the matter, the commission imposed a penalty of ₹10,000 on Vijayalakshmi, who is a former Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department in Raichur and now serving in Shahapur taluk, and ₹5,000 on Shivappa, who is the Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department in Raichur.

The commission noted that Vijayalakshmi was earlier fined ₹5,000 and directed to furnish the information sought by the appellant and appear before it during the subsequent hearing.

However, she neither complied with the order nor appeared before the commission. Taking serious note of the continued non-compliance, the commission enhanced the penalty to ₹10,000.

Similarly, Shivappa was directed to provide the requested information and appear before the commission during the next hearing. As he too failed to comply with the commission’s directions, a penalty of ₹5,000 was imposed on him.

The commission has directed Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department in Raichur district Praveen Kumar and Deputy Director of the department in Yadgir district Chidanandappa to initiate steps to recover the penalties from the officials concerned and submit a compliance report during the next hearing.

The directions were issued under Section 18(3) of the RTI Act, 2005. The commission warned that further action under Section 20(2) of the Act will be initiated in the event of non-compliance.