8 months on, teacher awaits RTI reply

Harinder Singh Khaira

Patiala, June 5

Nearly eight months after filing an RTI seeking information from the Education Department and despite several complaints, a government school teacher at Ajnauda Kalan village has been left deprived of the demanded information.

Gurpreet Singh, who is also the general secretary of the SC/BC teachers union, has filed an application on November 7, 2016, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. He also submitted a reminder with the Education Department on December 26, 2016, but to no avail.

After failing to get the information within the set time limit of the Act, Gurpreet lodged a complaint with the DPI office and has also sent a complaint to the Punjab State Information Commission.

Annoyed over the behavior of the Block Primary Education Officer (BPEO), Gurpreet had filed the RTI application seeking the record of teachers of Bhadson-2 block whose rankings of Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) have been decreased in 2013-14 and 2014-15 and several other questions.

Gurpreet and other association members have also alleged that the officer has misused her conferred powers and reduced the rankings of several teachers in the ACRs without having any authority.

Gurpreet said, “The Centre Head Teacher has awarded 95 marks with excellent remarks in my ACR, but the BPEO concerned has trimmed the report without any authority. Though she has not amended the marks list, she altered the comments and lowered down the remarks.”

“Despite several requests and complaints, they failed to provide the demanded information and now I am planning to move the court,” Gurpreet said.

The BPEO concerned could not be contacted despite several attempts. Meanwhile, District Education Officer (DEO), Elementary, Inderjit Singh Kalra said, “As I have joined the office a few days ago, I am unaware of the issue. But I will definitely look into the matter soon.”