Information Commission asks Officers to send reply to notice within 30 days

     Raipur, July 13, 2025: Chhattisgarh State Information Commission has directed all the heads of offices to ensure that the reply to the notice sent by the State Information Commission for hearing the second appeal is sent by registered post within 30 days after receiving the first notice along with the documents, submitted clause-wise.

     Also, the State Information Commission has directed all the then Public Information Officers/current Public Information Officers to clearly mention their name, designation, place of posting along with the case number, year and date of hearing while corresponding with the Commission.

     The Commissioner of Chhattisgarh Information Commission has said that in the hearing of the Commission, the authority letter will be accepted as a representative by the then Public Information Officer/current Public Information Officer and the reply submitted by them will be considered as the reply of the then Public Information Officer/current Public Information Officer.

     In the absence of the authority letter, the presence of the representative will not be accepted.

     While submitting the reply, clearly mention the name and designation of the then Public Information Officer/current Public Information Officer. Also ensure to provide the information about the name, designation, tenure and current place of posting of the then Public Information Officer/current Public Information Officers to the Commission.

     Chhattisgarh State Information Commission has directed that the then Public Information Officer/current Public Information Officers should be present in the hearing with all the records and files related to the case.

     If due to unavoidable reasons, the then Public Information Officer/current Public Information Officer is unable to appear in the hearing on the scheduled date of the second appeal of the Commission, then such representative should be sent for the hearing, who has complete information regarding the case and can submit the reply to the Commission on the occasion of hearing before the Commission with complete documents and information.

      The State Information Commission has said that due to non-receipt of reply from the then Public Information Officer/present Public Information Officers to the notice sent by the then Public Information Officer/present Public Information Officers for hearing of second appeal under RTI Act, 2005, there is unnecessary delay in hearing the case. In case the reply is not received by registered post from such Officers as per rules before the hearing before the Commission and in the event of non-compliance of the said direction, penalty and disciplinary action can be taken under Section 20 (1) and Section 20 (2) of RTI Act, 2005 and as per the instructions issued by the Government from time to time.