Central Information Commission
Mr. P. D. Baijal vs Delhi Transco Limited, Gnctd on 20 November, 2009
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2008/00425/2437Adjunct
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2008/00425
Appellant : Mr. P. D. Baijal,
7/32 Ansari Road,
Darya Gunj,
New Delhi - 110002.
Respondent : Dy. GM (Admn.) & PIO (HR)
Delhi Transco Limited, GNCTD 6th Floor, Shakti Sadan, Kotla Road New Delhi 110002 Manager (Pension Trust) DVB Employees Terminal Benefits Fund 2002 Pre-Fab Building, Rajghat Power House Office Complex New Delhi 110002 RTI application filed on : 21/04/2008 PIO's Reply : Date not mentioned.
First Appeal filed on : 18/06/2008 First Appellate Authority order : Not mentioned. Second Appeal filed on : 28/08/2008 S.No. Information Sought PIO's Reply
1. Copy of the pension calculation sheet with details of last Calculation sheet and statement ten months basic pay, average pay and pension determined showing pay drawn for last 10 on 01-03-1982 i.e. Rs. 668/- months is enclosed as Annexure
- B (Three pages).
2. I pray for a copy GOI Order adopted by DESU for The information/documents determination of basic pension @ 668 instead of Rs. 730 pertain to the period of erstwhile on 01-03-1982. DESU/DVB time and in spite of our best efforts, the same is untraceable/ unavailable.
3. I pray for a copy of the GOI order adopted by DESU for Reply as per Para 2 above.
payment of IR w. e. f. 01-03-1983 to the officer/employees including those who had retried expired before 01-06-1983 and after 01-06-1983.
4. I pray for a copy of the GPO order adopted by DESU to Reply as per Para 2 above.
pay IR to the officers/employees including theses who had retired/expired before 01-03-1985 and after 01-03-1985.
5. I pray for a copy of the GOI order adopted by DESU for The pension of the applicant has reduction of basic pension from Rs. 305 w. e. f. 01-01- been fixed in accordance with 1986. GOI order No: F- 45/86/97 - P & PW (A) Part - III dated 10- 02-1998. The detail of fixation is enclosed as Annexure - 'C' (Two Pages).
6. I pray for a copy of the GOI order adopted by DESU for Reply as per Para 2 above.
payment/ merger of DRF with basic pension on 01-01- 1986 on reduced basic pension i.e. Rs. 305/- instead of Rs. 668/-.
7. I pray for a copy of the GOI order adopted by DESU for Reply as per Para 2 above.
payment/merger of IR (1) on 01-01-1986 on reduced basic pension i.e. Rs. 305 instead of Rs. 668/-.
8. I pray for a copy of the GOI order adopted by DESU for Reply as per Para 2 above.
payment//merger of IR (II) on 01-01-1986 @ 10% on reduced basic pension i.e. Rs. 305 instead of Rs. 668/-.
9. I pray for a copy of the GOI order adopted by DESU for Reply as per Para 2 above.
not to merger Additional relief @ Rs. 100/- with basic pension on 01-01-1986 to determine basic pension on 01- 01-1986.
10. Copy of the recommendation of DESU (now) DVB wage Reply as per Para 2 above.
Revision Committee with regard to IR w. e. f. 01-01-1994.
11. I pray for a copy of the order of DESU for payment of IR Reply as per Para 2 above.
@ Rs. 50/- + 10% w. e. f. 01-01-1994.
12. I pray for a copy of the order of DESU/DVB for payment Reply as per Para 2 above.
of IR @ 20% subject to minimum Rs. 250/- and maximum Rs. 700 to the officers/ employees of DESU/DVB who had retired/ expired after 01-01-1996 only.
13. I pray for a copy of the order of DESU/DVB which did not Reply as per Para 2 above.
allow payment of the IR as recommended by DESU (NOW) DVB i. e. @ 20% subject to minimum Rs. 250/- and maximum Rs. 700/- to those officers/employees of DESU/DVB who had retired/ expired before 01-01-1996.
14. I pray for a copy of the order of DESU/DVB which did not Reply as per Para 2 above.
allow payment of IR as recommended by DESU (NOW) DVB Wage Revision Committee to those officers/ employees of DESU who revised the Central Civil Services Pension Rule 1972 for revision of pension w. e. f. 01-01- 1996.
15. I pray for a copy of the order of GOI/ DESU/ DVB for Reply as per Para 2 above.
reduction of the amount of my basic pay as defined in defined FR 9 (21) (a) (1) paid to me on 28-02-1982. DA IR (I) and IR (II) had been added 01-01-1986 on the basic pay so reduced @ on the reduced basic pay.
16. I pray for a copy of the order GOI/DESU/DVB for Reply as per Para 2 above.
reduction of the amount of DA. Due and paid in the month of December 85.
17. I pray for a copy of the order of GOI/DESU/DVB for Reply as per Para 2 above.
reduction of the amount of the amount of IR (I) due / paid in the month of December 1985.
18. I pray for a copy of the order of GOI/DESU/DVB for Reply as per Para 2 above.
reduction of the amount of the amount of IR (II) due/paid in the month of December 1985.
19. I pray for a copy of the order of GOI/DESU/DVB for A copy of office order No.: F I reduction of the amount of fixation benefits on 01-01-1986. (2) PRC/2002/157 dated 15-06- 2002 is enclosed as Annexure -
D (one page).
20. I pray for a copy of the order of DVB which has allowed A copy of office order No.:
payment of interim relief to the officers/employees of DVB E/PRC/177 dated 21-08-1995 is @ Rs. 500/- pm enclosed as Annexure - E (one page).
21. I pray for a copy of the order of DVB which has authorized The Rs. 500 (Rupees Five Pension Disbursement Authority not to pay the aforesaid Hundred) was not Interim Interim Relief @ 50 % of Rs. 500/- = 250 to these who had Relief. It was an ad-hoc retired prior to 01-07-2002. payment given to the employees on roll as on 01-07-2002 subject to adjustment in future pay revision.
First Appellate Authority Ordered:
Not mentioned.
Relevant facts emerging during hearing:
The following were present.
Appellant: Mr. P. D. Baijal Respondent: Mr. Sandeep Vats PIO The appellant wants details relating to his pension, since his pension has been reduced. The PIO states that the pension liabilities of the organization are now with 'DVB Employees Terminal Benefits Fund-2002' and this body claims it is not a Public authority. This appears to be a very absurd situation, where the pension of Public servants is supposedly paid by a body which is claiming to be a private body not subject to the Right to Information Act. It appears highly unlikely that the said body would not have been funded by Government and would have no Government control.
It appears to the Commission that DVB Employees Terminal Benefits Fund-2002 is likely to be a Public authority. The PIO is directed to transfer the RTI application to the Chairman of this body before 30 March 2009 along with a copy of this order. DVB Employees Terminal Benefits Fund-2002 will either provide the information to the appellant before 15 April 2009 or submit details of its finances, and control structure to the Commission showing how it is not a Public authority.
Decision dated 26 March 2009:
The Appeal was allowed. The PIO was directed to transfer the RTI application with a copy of this order to the Chairman DVB Employees Terminal Benefits Fund-2002.
Brief facts leading to a hearing on 18/11/2009:
As a perusal of the records on file revealed that the Application had been transferred to the Chairman of the Fund vide letter dated 31/03/2009. A response dated 15/04/2009 was sent by the Manager (Pension Trust) to the Appellant in which it was stated that the balance information was with the DTL.
It was clear from the records and representation made by the Appellant that complete information was yet to be provided to him. The Commission decided to schedule a hearing in this matter on 18/11/2009 at 12 p.m. to decide which body was responsible for the not providing the complete information to the Appellant and would accordingly initiate penalty proceedings against the persons responsible under Section 20 of the RTI Act. Notice dated 20/10/2009 was sent to Dy. GM, DTL and Manager of the Pension Trust to attend the hearing and to make efforts to ensure that the balance information was provided to the Appellant before 13/11/2009.
Relevant facts arising during the hearing on 18/11/2009: The following persons were present:
Appellant: Absent Respondent: Mr. KV Krishna Kumar, DGM (HR) II Delhi Transco Ltd; Mr. KG Vishwanathan, Manager, Pension Trust The information sought for by the Appellant is 15-20 years old. In 2000, the Delhi Vidyut Board was unbundled and it was divided into six entities one of which was DTL. Mr. Krishna Kumar stated when the unbundling took place the record-keeping was very haphazard. Therefore, the information sought by the Appellant was not easily available. Furthermore, some of the queries of the Appellant were very vague as he did not specify which year or who was the competent authority issuing the order. However, after much a lot of record searching information has been located in response to Query 9 to 14.
Mr. Vishwanathan submitted that only Queries 1, 5 and 21 pertained to his department which had been supplied to the Appellant before and after the Commission's order. The Commission contacted the Appellant on the phone and he stated that he had no grievance against the information provided by the Fund.
Mr. Krishna Kumar had brought some old records to the Commission which he thinks might be useful to the Appellant. He has agreed to send these records to the Appellant's house as the Appellant is a senior citizen of 85 years of age and not able move out of his house. The Appellant has agreed to identify the documents required and he would be provided copies free of cost by Mr. Krishna Kumar.
In view of the fact the information sought was vague and very old, the Commission finds reasonable cause in the delay in providing the information. Therefore, show cause proceedings are not being initiated. The Commission directs Mr. Krishna Kumar to ensure that the records are inspected by the Appellant before 27 November 2009 subject to the Appellant's availability and to provide free copies of documents identified by him. He is further directed to hand over the reply to Queries 9 to 14 to the Appellant. A joint inspection report signed by both parties must be sent to the Commission before 7 December 2009.
Shailesh Gandhi Information Commissioner 20 November 2009 (In any case correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.) (SP)