JOIN USThe CIC on Monday issued show-cause notices to two officials of the Union Labour Ministry for not furnishing complete information to a 90-year old widow, claiming to be the "aunt" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had been running from pillar to post for renewal of rent for a government dispensary running on her premises.
Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu pulled up the officials for not furnishing complete information to Dahiben Narottamdas Modi of Vadnagar in Gujarat's Mehsana district.
She has claimed in her petition before the Central Information Commission that the ministry has been paying Rs 1,500 a month as rent since 1998 and no renewal of lease has been done since.
According to the details presented by her, her building in Vadnagar was taken on lease by the ministry in 1983 to establish a dispensary for bidi workers at a monthly rent of Rs 600. The lease was to be renewed after every five years.
Through renewals of the lease, the rent was gradually increased to Rs 1,500 in 1998 but after that, the lease was not renewed and rent remained at Rs 1,500 as against a present market rate of Rs 15,000, she said.
Dahiben filed an RTI application last year seeking to know multiple questions related to renewal of the lease and whether she should be paid arrears for the period when lease renewal was due but not done by the department.
Frustrated with incomplete information provided to her by Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) and Assistant Welfare Officer T B Moitra, she filed a first appeal before his senior S S Bhople claiming that she was "real aunty of Prime Minister Narendra Modi" and "if justice is not given to me, the entire matter will be reported to PM".
The first appeal went unheard, she claimed, following which the matter was presented before the çommission in the second appeal which was heard by Acharyulu on June 21, 2018.
The Information Commissioner found that her claims of not getting complete information were prima facie justified.
Acharyulu asked Moitra and Bhople to come up with an explanation as to why a penalty would be not imposed on them for not furnishing complete information to Dahiben.