Central information commission penalises two railway officials Rs 20,000 for wrongful RTI denial

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has fined two railway officials a total of Rs 20,000 for failing to handle an RTI application properly and not discharging their statutory responsibilities. It also ordered that a caution issued to the then first appellate authority over his handling of the RTI plea be noted in his service record, observing that existing records cannot be mechanically denied.

The officers had denied an RTI plea, saying it was outside the scope of Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005.

The commission imposed a penalty of Rs 15,000 on the present Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of Southern Railway and Rs 5,000 on the then CPIO under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act. The RTI applicant had sought complete file relating to his charge sheet, including correspondence, notes and remarks, apart from details of his revision petition and action taken on his request for its early disposal.

The CIC said the information sought “pertains to his own disciplinary proceedings and revision petition” and substantially related to information held by or under the control of the public authority.  Such requests, it said, “cannot be summarily rejected by invoking Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005”.

During the hearing, the present CPIO failed to provide a “cogent or plausible explanation” as to why the information sought was considered outside the scope of Section 2(f), the Commission said.