Acting on a plea filed by RTI applicant RK Jain seeking the details of expenses incurred by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on travel bills, Chief Information Commission (CIC) directed the green panel to disclose the same in a “para-wise” disclosure. The order came after the NGT had claimed that it did not have adequate infrastructure to handle the load of RTI applications. NGT is the apex body for adjudicating environmental issues.
Countering the claim, Jain said, “Justice must tame whom mercy cannot win.” He said that the CPIO wrote to him saying that if he was satisfied with the inspection of documents, then he could not ask for the photocopies of the same. That, however, was not acceptable to the complainant. Jain pleaded before the CIC that, under Section 19(5) of the RTI Act, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) was bound to furnish the information and not furnishing the same would be deemed to be a refusal under Section 7(2) of the RTI Act.
Acting on the plea, the CIC directed the CPIO to furnish a para-wise reply to the complainant. “The Commission directs the CPIO to furnish para-wise reply to the complainant... And also directs him to show cause why a penalty cannot be imposed on him for not providing information to the complainant,” said Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had issued a directive to all public authorities on September 11, 2012, to suo motu place in the public domain the expenses incurred on official tours undertaken by any Ministers and officials. The CIC had also directed all public authorities to make suo motu disclosures of travel expenses as a lot of RTI applicants were found to request for these details. The PMO under then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had started disclosing these details proactively.