The Punjab Transparency and Accountability Commission on Thursday imposed a penalty of ₹25,000 each on six officials of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for failing to deliver notified public services within the prescribed timelines under the Punjab Transparency and Accountability in Delivery of Public Services Act, 2018.Besides imposing the monetary penalty, the Punjab Transparency and Accountability Commission also issued show-cause notices. (HT)The penalised officials are sub-divisional officer Harpreet Singh, and junior engineers Vikramjit, Shubhkarman Singh, Pardeep Kumar, Lavish and Manpreet Singh.According to the commission, the SDO recorded the highest pendency with 149 cases, while the junior engineers had not addressed between 15 and 27 applications each.Besides imposing the monetary penalty, the commission also issued show-cause notices, directing them to explain why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against them for repeated violations of the Act.According to the order, the commission detected the delays through the GMADA Pendency Dashboard, which tracks pending applications for notified public services.Show-cause notices were also issued on December 30, 2025. However, the commission found the officials’ replies unsatisfactory, observing that several responses appeared to have been “copied from one another without any independent application of mind”.The commission also found that the officials failed to provide meaningful reasons for delaying applications.In many cases, applicants were merely asked to “contact for demarcation” or informed that the “work is incomplete/not up to level” without specifying the exact deficiencies. Such vague remarks, the commission observed, violated Rule 5 (2) of the Punjab Transparency and Accountability in Delivery of Public Services Rules, 2021, which mandated that all objections or deficiencies in an application must be communicated comprehensively at the first instance, rather than through piecemeal objections.Invoking Section 16 (3) of the Accountability Act, the commission noted that it was empowered to impose a penalty of up to ₹10,000 for each delayed case. Based on the pendency recorded on the GMADA dashboard between November 1, 2024, and December 29, 2025, the officials were potentially liable for much higher penalties. However, taking what it described as a “lenient and compassionate view”, the commission restricted the penalty to ₹25,000 for each official.The officials have been directed to deposit the penalty amount in the commission’s designated bank account and submit their replies within seven days. They have also been instructed to ensure that all future applications carry clear, specific and comprehensive remarks so that applicants are informed of every objection in a single communication.Failure to deposit the penalty or furnish a satisfactory explanation could result in disciplinary action under Section 16 (4) of the Act. Officials have also been given the option of seeking a personal hearing through video conferencing before any further action is taken.