HC raps state for not appointing SPIOs in gram panchayats

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rapped Haryana for not appointing State Public Information Officers (SPIOs) in individual gram panchayats across the state, while making it clear that their absence was a major cause of harassment to the rural inhabitants.

Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu also made it clear that the failure to provide the information sought by the villagers was resulting in avoidable litigation. The assertions came as the Bench impleaded the state of Haryana through Commissioner and Secretary, Rural Development Department, and another authority, as respondents before directing the issuance of notice to them.

Justice Sindhu was hearing a petition filed against the State Information Commission and other respondents by Bhagwat Dayal. He had submitted an application in January 2019 under the RTI Act seeking information regarding annual amounts received and spent on development works by Haripur gram panchayat in Faridabad district. He moved the court as the desired information was not supplied by the quarter concerned.

Justice Sindhu asserted the court had come across matters where the villagers were seeking information about the grants and funds received or utilised by the gram panchayats. Invariably the needful was not being done by the quarter concerned on one pretext or the other, resulting in the filing of avoidable writ petitions.