CURATED BY – ASHWINI WALIA | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Kurukshetra, Right to Information means the right to get information. The government has also implemented the Right to Information (RTI) for the common man, but the responsible officers can be seen openly violating the Right to Information. The responsible officers avoid giving information in RTI and if an applicant goes for appeal, then these officers wash their hands off by giving incomplete information. The latest case of how much trouble the person seeking information in RTI is in is related to the Public Health and Engineering Department of the Chief Minister's workplace. How the fearless officers of the department are not giving complete information even after collecting 80 thousand rupees from an RTI activist. RTI activist Arora says that he had filed an RTI on 30 January 25 to the Superintendent Engineer, Public Health and Engineering Department, Kurukshetra as per government rules, for which he had also submitted a postal order for the government fee as per rules. On 3 February, the Public Health and Engineering Department, Kurukshetra wrote him two letters on the same day, whose reference numbers were different. In one letter, he demanded Rs 85,000 for providing information. In the second letter of the same day, he instructed the officers of his department to provide the information within the stipulated time limit and also tell how much money is to be deposited for the information. The amazing thing is that both the letters were written on the same day, which is a wonder in itself. How government officials break the law as per their convenience is in their hands. The applicant did not give up and on 14 February 25, he deposited a demand draft of Rs 10,000 in the department and requested the department through a letter to please tell on what basis the money has been demanded. But the officials of the department did not pay heed to this and the department wrote a letter to deposit the outstanding amount. Defeated by the law-breaking officials, the applicant deposited Rs. 70,000 by drawing a banker's cheque on 5 March 25. But the department did not provide the information even after taking the money. The applicant still did not give up and complained to His Excellency the Governor, Chief Minister of Haryana, Chief Secretary of Haryana, Engineer in Chief and other officials. Department official Sumit Garg does not want to give RTI, but the officials did not want to provide the information even after depositing the money. Because if the department provides the complete information then a huge scam may come to light. Pankaj Arora told how fearless the officials of the department were that after taking Rs. 80,000, they did not deposit it in the department's account within the stipulated time limit, which has been confirmed by the bank. When he informed the Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra about this whole matter, he gave strict written and oral orders to the department's officer Sumit Garg. Even after the orders of Deputy Commissioner Kurukshetra, the said officer did not want to give the information. The applicant complained about this twice in the Samadhan Camp, then a call came from the Chief Minister's office, then this officer hurriedly gave incomplete information on June 6 and gave evasive answers to the rest of the information. The applicant did not give up and took refuge in the court of the Chief Information Commissioner, where his appeal has been accepted. The applicant Pankaj Arora told that the fee deposited by the Superintendent Engineer, Public Health and Engineering Department, Kurukshetra in the name of giving information was not deposited in the department's account, which has been confirmed by the bank. Let us tell you that the validity of demand draft and banker's cheque is 3 months, after which its validity expired. The question is that if the fee for giving information was not to be deposited in the department's account, then why did the officer write the letter. Another big question is that if the department is claiming to have provided information of more than 37 thousand pages, then who paid for its photocopying? If this entire matter is investigated, the department may get into trouble.