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Badal Kanti Sengupta vs South Eastern Railway (Kolkata) on 22 December, 2025

                                के ीय सू चना आयोग
                          Central Information Commission
                             बाबा गंगनाथ माग, मुिनरका
                           Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
                           नई िद ी, New Delhi - 110067


File No: CIC/SERLK/A/2024/114222

Badal Kanti Sengupta                                  .....अपीलकता/Appellant

                                        VERSUS
                                         बनाम
PIO,
South Eastern Railway Office
of the Divisional Railway
Manager, South Eastern
Railway, DRM Building,
Kharagpur, West Bengal - 721301                       .... ितवादीगण /Respondent

Date of Hearing                     :    17.12.2025
Date of Decision                    :    22.12.2025

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER :               Vinod Kumar Tiwari

Relevant facts emerging from appeal:

RTI application filed on            :    11.11.2023
CPIO replied on                     :    23.11.2023
First appeal filed on               :    26.12.2023
First Appellate Authority's order   :    Not on record
2nd Appeal/Complaint dated          :    26.04.2024

Information sought

:

1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 11.11.2023 (offline) seeking the following information:

"I the undersigned earlier served in Central Government Office and retired in the Supervisory Post in August, 2022. So under the provision of RTI Act, 2005 in reference to Section 6(1)(a) the following information may kindly be provided to undersigned.

On 02/06/2023 there was severe collision at Balasore between Coromandal Express and the Goods Train and further collision between Bangalore Howrah superfast Express with the damaged coaches of Coromandal Express leading to complete dis-organised of Train Services. Hence for restoration of Train Services and better Services to the passengers, what were the major individual wise roles of all the respective 11 Departments of South Eastern Railway of Kharagpur Division."

2. The CPIO furnished a reply to the Appellant on 23.11.2023 stating as under:

"This is to inform that Specific information has not been sought for, Hence, no information can be provided under RTI Act of 2005."

3. Being dissatisfied, the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 26.12.2023. The FAA order is not on record.

4. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied, Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.

5. Proof of having served a copy of Second Appeal on Respondent while filing the same in CIC is not available on record.

Relevant Facts emerged during Hearing:

The following were present:-

Appellant: Absent.

Respondent: Shri Kakshmi Dhar Mohapatra, APIO-cum-APO, attended the hearing through VC.

6. The Appellant did not participate in the hearing.

7. The Respondent submitted that the Appellant in the instant RTI Application has not sought any specific record and accordingly, a suitable reply was given by the then CPIO vide letter dated 23.11.2023. He added that upon receipt of the hearing notice from the Commission, the present CPIO again revisited the RTI Application and provided the relevant information containing 39 pages to the Appellant after obtaining the same from 14 departments concerned under Section 5 (4) of the RTI Act, vide written submission dated 11.12.2025.

8. A written submission has been received from Ms. Shreya Shandilya, CPIO-cum-Senior DPO, vide letter dated 11.12.2025, a copy of which has been sent to the Appellant and the same has been taken on record. The relevant extract of the same is as under:

"In response to the Notice of Hearing issued in the file bearing No.CIC/ SERLK/Α/2024/114222 dated 19.11.2025, by the Hon'ble CIC/NDLS, in respect of RTI Application dated 11.11.2023 of Sri Badal Kanti Sengupta, the following lines are laid down for your kind perusal and consideration please. That, the hearing on Bharat VC link of said CIC case of Sri Badal Kanti Sengupta has been fixed to be held on 17.12.2025 at 11:35 AM through Bharat VC link as mentioned in the CIC letter dtd. 19.11.2025 (Photocopy of Notice of Hearing dated 17.12.2025 is enclosed).

That, in compliance to the Notice of hearing cited above, it is to state that Sri Badal Kanti Sengupta has submitted offline RTI request dated 11.11.2023 (Photocopy enclosed) which was replied upon by the CPIO & Sr. DPO/KGP, S.E.Railway vide this office letter No. SER/P-KGP/740/RTI/11976 dated 23.11.2023 (Photocopy enclosed).

Further, he again submitted offline RTI first appeal request dated 26.12.2023 (Photocopy enclosed) which was already replied by the Appellant Authority i.e. ADRM/KGP, S.E.Railway vide this office letter No.ADRM/KGP/RTI/Appeal/1432/Reply (Photocopy enclosed). Here, it is pertinent to mention that the information sought for in the RTI request dated 11.11.2023 of Sri Badal Kanti Sengupta is (1). On 02.06.2023 there was severe collision between Bangalore between Coromondal Express and the Goods Train and further collision between Bangalore Howrah superfast express with the damaged coaches of coromondal express leading to complete dis-organised of passengers, what were the major individualwise roles of all the respective 11 Departments of South Eastern Railway of Kharagpur Divn.

With reference to the above, the information sought by the applicant under item nos. 01 has already been duly replied by the CPIO & Sr.DPO/KGP, S.E. Railway, vide letter dtd. 23.112023, as mentioned at page-1 para-03 wherein it was stated that the appellant had not specified the Department's name, hence at this stage no information can be provided.

Further, the applicant preferred a First Appeal dated 26.12.2023 to the First Appellate Authority (FAA) ADRM/KGP, which was duly considered and disposed of vide Appellate Order No. ADRM/KGP/RTI/Appeal/1432/ Reply, as mentioned at page-1, para- 04.

With response to second appeal CIC hearing dtd. 17.12.2025 (mentioned above), it is to mention that at present, there are total 14 major departments working in Kharagpur Division. The names of the Departments are as follows:-

1). Accounts, 2).General Administration, 3). Commercial, 4.) Stores, 5).

Construction, 6). Electrical, 7). Civil Engineering, 8). Mechanical, 9). Medical, CIC/SERLK/A/2024/114222 Page 3 of 4

10). Personnel, 11). Operating, 12). Safety, 13). Security and 14). Signal and Telecommunication.

Moreover, the department-wise roles, responsibilities, reporting procedures, and handling mechanisms for serious railway accidents are detailed in the Railways Board Indian Railway Accident Manual/Protocol letter No.2021/Safety(A&R)/26/5 dtd. 21.05.2021 (total-39 pages). The complete document is publicly available on the relevant official websites of Indian Railways/Railway Board. The said manual comprehensively outlines the duties, action plans, coordination mechanisms, and communication protocols to be followed by each department during serious railway accidents. Submitted for kind consideration of the above and the instant CIC case of Sri Badal Kanti Sengupta may please be treated as complied with."

Decision:

9. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case and perusal of the records, observes that a suitable reply in terms of the provisions of RTI Act has been given to the Appellant vide letter dated 23.11.2023. Further the written submission sent by the present CPIO vide letter dated 11.12.2025, is more elaborate and is treated as updated reply. Hence, intervention of the Commission is not required in the instant case.

The appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Vinod Kumar Tiwari (िवनोद कुमार ितवारी) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयु ) Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स ािपत ित) (S. Anantharaman) Dy. Registrar 011- 26181927 Copy To:

Recomendation(s) to PA under section 25(5) of the RTI Act, 2005:-

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