Registrar fined for withholding information

Chief information commissioner of Maharashtra State has fined the Public Information Officer(PIO)/deputy registrar of the co-operative department Rs5,000 for failing to give information sought under the Maharashtra Right to Information Act. RTI application was filed by Sunil Godbole, a resident of the Glittering Star Co-operative housing society at Worli, seeking to know whether members of the managing committee of his housing society had submitted indemnity bonds. However, the PIO failed to provide this information for a year despite an order by the appellate authority. RTI activists feel that the order is significant because managing committee members of thousands of societies in the city do not submit indemnity bonds. As per the model byelaws and a Bombay High Court ruling in 2002, members of the managing committee of a housing society have to submit indemnity bonds of being legally and financially responsible of the society’s working within 30 days of their appointment with the registrar.