Action taken against 13 PIOs by Information Commission
A penalty of ₹25,000 each has been levied on 13 PIOs including the tahasildars, Assistant Executive Engineers and others working under Bench - 2 of the commission.
'PIOs play a significant role in the implementation of RTI Act. Negligence of officials in providing information leads to the public not getting to know about government schemes in timely manner. RTI Act is an important tool that helps in public welfare and these actions have been taken to ensure that the officers are not negligent,' said a note from the commission.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
26 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Special court verdict in Malegaon blast case tomorrow
A special court in Mumbai will pronounce its judgment in the Malegaon 2008 blast case on Thursday. Special Judge A K Lahoti will deliver the verdict, the trial on which had begun in 2018. Seven accused namely former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (Retd), Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi are on trial facing charges, including criminal conspiracy and murder under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosive Substances Act. A bomb went off at a chowk in Malegaon, a town known for its powerloom industry, nearly 100 km northeast of Nashik in Maharashtra. It was Ramzan, the holy month of fasting in Islam, and the blast, which took place in an area with a large Muslim population, killed six persons and injured 100. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which took over the investigation from the local police, suspected that the improvised explosive device (IED) had been planted on an LML Freedom motorcycle. It was suspected that the conspirators had consciously chosen the month of Ramzan and the eve of Navaratri to carry out the bombing, with an intention to cause communal rifts and endanger the internal security of the state. The ATS claimed that the registration number of the motorcycle that was found at the site of the explosion – MH-15-P-4572 – was fake, and that its engine number and chassis number had been erased. The ATS alleged that the owner of the bike was Pragya Singh Thakur alias Sadhwi Poornachetanand Giri and arrested her on October 23, 2008. Thakur's arrest and interrogation, the ATS claimed, led it to the other accused. While the probe was initially led by then ATS chief Hemant Karkare, he was killed in the Mumbai 2008 terror attacks on November 26, 2008. The ATS continued its probe and filed a chargesheet in January 2009 against 11 accused claiming that they were part of the conspiracy to execute the blast. The ATS claimed that the accused had attended meetings, where discussions were held on targeting Muslims as 'revenge' and Malegaon was chosen for its dominantly Muslim population. It was also alleged that the accused had discussed working towards 'Aryawart' or a Hindu Rashtra with its own Constitution and flag, and a 'government in exile'. The ATS also claimed that an organisation founded by Purohit in 2006, Abhinav Bharat, was linked to the conspiracy. The ATS had also invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the case. In 2011, the case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the central investigation agency that was set up after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The NIA began a probe but in its chargesheet said that due to the passage of time, no additional evidence could be recovered from the spot. It went on to rerecord statements of some of the witnesses who denied their earlier statements recorded by the ATS. Pointing to 'lacunae' in the case, the NIA chargesheet filed on May 13, 2016, dropped the charges under MCOCA, saying that the manner in which the organised crime law was invoked by the ATS was 'questionable'. It said there was no evidence against Thakur, as the motorcycle registered in Thakur's name had been in the possession of absconding accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, who was using it well before the blast. It also said that since MCOCA was not applied, confessions made under the Act were inadmissible as evidence. Most of the ATS's case against the accused relied on confessions, and the NIA said that the confession of Chaturvedi was an 'outcome of torture'. On December 27, 2017, the court accepted the NIA's contention that MCOCA cannot be invoked in the case. It said that the seven accused – Thakur, Purohit, retired Major Upadhyay, Kulkarni, Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, and Sudhakar Dwivedi – would face trial under UAPA, IPC, and the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. The trial in the case began in December 2018. Special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal said that 323 witnesses were examined of which nearly 40 turned hostile. The testimonies of these witnesses were mainly relating to Purohit and the alleged conspiracy meetings. These witnesses denied having participated in or heard any discussions by the accused about the conspiracy to carry out a bomb blast. Some of the witnesses also alleged that they had been coerced, illegally detained, and threatened by the ATS into giving false statements naming certain persons. In its final arguments, the prosecution submitted that there was evidence in respect of Call Data Records, and forensic evidence to show that the explosive device had been planted in the LML motorcycle. There was also evidence to show the presence of the accused at the places where the conspiracy meetings had taken place, and other documentary proof, it said. The accused claimed that with witnesses turning hostile, the conspiracy was not proven at all. The accused also submitted that the NIA chargesheet itself showed that the ATS probe was 'biased' and claimed that despite the serious nature of allegations, there was no evidence to show any conspiracy, including any proof on where the explosives were sourced from, transported and assembled. The court is expected to pronounce the judgment around 11 am.
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Karnataka IT/ITeS Employees Union seeks action against TCS over job cuts
The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) on Wednesday filed an industrial dispute case against Tata Consultancy Services before the state's labour department, accusing the IT market leader of illegal mass retrenchment and seeking prosecution of the management for violation of the Industrial Disputes TCS last Sunday announced that it would cut 2% of the workforce this fiscal year, affecting more than 12,000 of its mid- and senior-level employees. The job cuts come at a time when macro uncertainties and artificial intelligence-led technology disruptions are affecting demand for IT representatives met Karnataka additional labour commissioner G Manjunath demanding initiation of criminal proceedings against the executive involved in 'the criminal act of forcing employees to resign', the union said in a news union said it has received several complaints from TCS employees stating that the management was forcing them to is already facing scrutiny from the central government, including the ministries of electronics and information technology and labour, after another technology employees' association, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), sent out two letters seeking the labour ministry's intervention in this chief labour commissioner's office has sought to meet senior TCS executives on August 1. The labour ministry aims to address concerns over large-scale layoffs and delays in onboarding new recruits.'According to the Industrial Disputes Act, companies employing more than 100 workers are required to obtain prior approval from the government before carrying out any layoffs or retrenchments. Such retrenchments are permitted only for specific reasons and under conditions clearly defined in the Act,' KITU's release said. 'This well-established and consistently upheld labour jurisprudence has been violated by the TCS management, which has resorted to the criminal practice of forcing employees to resign.'In view of the urgency of the situation, the union has urged the additional labour commissioner to take necessary actions to ensure justice for the affected employees, it CEO K Krithivasan has said that the decision to lay off employees was not driven by AI-induced productivity gains, but rather due to skill mismatches or deployment $30 billion revenue-sized IT bellwether has also decided to freeze all lateral hirings of experienced personnel for now and paused its annual salary hikes globally, ET reported on Tuesday.
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Amid Political Row, No Bail For Nuns Arrested In Religious Conversion Case
A court in Chhattisgarh has declined to hear the bail plea of two Kerala-based nuns, who were arrested in Durg on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion. On Wednesday, the sessions court in Durg observed that it lacked jurisdiction because human trafficking charges come under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act and said the nuns should approach the NIA court in Bilaspur. The nuns, Sisters Preeta Mary and Vandana Francis, will remain in judicial custody. The arrests, which took place on July 25 at Durg railway station, following a complaint by local Bajrang Dal member Ravi Nigam, have ignited a political storm in Kerala, and its impact has been felt in Delhi as well. The ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala, the opposition United Democratic Front, the Christian community and Church leaders, as well as the state BJP, have condemned the arrest and called for the release of the nuns. The nuns were accompanying three tribal women from Narayanpur district to Agra, where they were to be trained and offered work at Fatima Hospital. The women and their families have reportedly said there was no forced religious conversion and that they were going of their own free will as adults. 'Protesting Attack On Minorities' The court's decision not to hear the bail petition has intensified the political debate surrounding the arrests. MPs from Kerala staged protests outside Parliament, demanding the nuns' release and accusing the Chhattisgarh government of targeting the Christian community. Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi said the nuns were ill-treated and accused of things they did not do. "We are protesting an attack on minorities. Women should not be manhandled. We demand an end to such atrocities." Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also condemned the arrests, calling them a "deliberate act of harassment" based on a "false complaint", and accused the BJP and its ideological affiliates of prejudice against Christians. He stated that "the same people who walk into Christian homes with cakes and smiles are now hunting down nuns." Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma have maintained that the investigation is proceeding as per due judicial process, emphasising the safety and dignity of the state's citizens. Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar, however, has expressed support for the nuns, stating he believes the arrests are due to a "misunderstanding" and that the party stands by them.. Christian organisations and leaders have also accused Bajrang Dal activists of assault and coercion. The Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, has said the fact that the nuns have not got bail has made the community wonder what motivates these people to act in such a way. He said the words and actions of leaders and political parties must not be contradictory. The complaint against the nuns includes charges under Section 143 (trafficking of persons) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 4 (religious conversion) of the Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act, 1968.
