Central Information Commission
Kirti Bhatt vs Ministry Of Railways on 21 June, 2017
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club building, Opposite Ber Sarai Market, Old JNU Campus, New Delhi- 110067.
Tel: 011 - 26182593/26182594
Email: [email protected]
File No : CIC/VS/A/2015/000236-AB
In the matter of:
Kirti Bhatt
D-59, Akshardham Bungalow
Part-02, Near Govt Tube Well
Bopal , Ahmedabad-380058
...Appellant
VS
Central Public Information Officer
DPG & CPIO- RTI Cell
Room No 507, 5th Floor
Railway Board, New Delhi-01
...Respondent
Dates
RTI application : 09.09.2014
CPIO reply : Not on record
First Appeal : 23.10.2014
FAA Order : Not on record
Second Appeal : 19.01.2015
Date of hearing : 15.06.2017
Facts:
The appellant filed RTI application on 09.09.2014, and sought information on 2 points; copy of the detailed guidelines for converting unmanned railway crossings into manned ones as mentioned in the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India dated 13.09.2010 in the case of WP(C) 162 of 2001, Consumer Education and Research Centre Vs Union of India. In this respect information regarding steps taken to provide for manned level- crossing as referred in the above stated judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India was sought in the said RTI application.
The CPIO's reply or the FAA order is not on record.
1Ground of Second Appeal The CPIO did not provide the desired information.
Order
Appellant : Absent
Respondent : CPIO, Shri Subodh Kumar, Director
During the hearing the respondent CPIO submitted that because of the confusion of the online and offline RTI application they had not provided any reply at that time and they came to know about the RTI application only after the receipt of the CIC hearing notice. Then they immediately provided reply on 07.06.17 which is just and proper and the case should be dismissed.
The appellant was not present to plead his case.
On perusal of the case record, it was seen that the reply provided was not in connection with the queries raised in the said RTI application.
The then respondent CPIO is issued a warning that reply to an RTI application should be provided according to the provisions of the RTI queries and within the time period as stipulated under the RTI Act. In future he should ensure that in every case reply to an RTI application is invariably provided within 30 days of receipt of the said RTI application.
An advisory is issued to Chairman Railway Board to look into this matter regarding problem in receiving online RTI applications in various units of Railway Board as well zonal Railways. Several such instances were reported to the Commission in the past wherein because of some technical glitches, the online RTI application did not reach the concerned CPIO/PIO in time, resulting in unwarranted delay in providing reply to the said RTI application.
2In the present case also, the CPIO took almost two years to know about the existence of the said RTI application. This shows a serious problem in the technical / coordinating mechanism at the railway board level itself. It is also noted that in the past several advisories were issued to Chairman, Railway Board for taking rectificatory action in the matter but no improvement is visible on the ground. The Chairman, Railway Board is once again requested to take effective action in this regard under information to the Commission at an early date.
The registry of this bench is directed to send a copy of this order to Member(Engg.), Railway Board also for information.
Be that as it may, since proper reply was not provided to the appellant so far, the respondent CPIO is directed to provide revised point wise reply complete in all respects to the appellant about action taken on the conversion of unmanned railway crossings into manned ones as mentioned in the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India dated 13.09.2010 in WP(C) 162 of 2001 between Consumer Education and Research Centre Vs Union of India e.g. in the form of certified true copies of the documents sought for e.g. note sheet, letters, correspondence, e.mail free of charge u/s 7(6) of the RTI Act within 15 days of the receipt of the order.
The respondent CPIO is further directed to send a report containing the copy of the revised reply and the date of despatch of the same to the RTI appellant within 07 days thereafter to the Commission for record.
With the above direction, the appeal is disposed of.
Copies of the order be sent to both the parties free of cost.
[Amitava Bhattacharyya] Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy (A.K. Talapatra) Deputy Registrar Copy to: Member(Engg), Railway Board, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi 3