Central Information Commission
Shankar Gyandeo Sadawarti vs Shipping Corp. Of India Ltd. on 25 February, 2022
Author: Saroj Punhani
Bench: Saroj Punhani
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबागंगनाथमाग , मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई द ली, New Delhi - 110067
File No : CIC/SCOTL/A/2021/600399 +
CIC/SCOTL/A/2021/600396
Shankar Gyandeo Sadawarti ......अपीलकता /Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO,
Shipping corporation of
India Limited, RTI Cell, Shipping
House, 245 Madame Cama Road,
Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021, Maharashtra. .... ितवादीगण /Respondent
Date of Hearing : 23/02/2022
Date of Decision : 23/02/2022
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER : Saroj Punhani
Note- The abovementioned Appeals have been clubbed together for the sake of
brevity and decision as these are based on similar RTI Applications.
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 04/06/2020 & 04/06/2020
CPIO replied on : Not on record
First appeal filed on : 24/08/2020 & 24/08/2020
First Appellate Authority order : Not on record
2nd Appeal/Complaint dated : 14/01/2021 & 14/01/2021
File no. -CIC/SCOTL/A/2021/600396
1
Information sought:
The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 04.06.2020 seeking the following information:
1. How many shore employee have been Dismissed from service w.e.f 1.1.2005?
2. How many of these dismissed shore employee have been paid PF contribution of the Employer- SCI.
3. As per Rule no.38(a) of The Provident Fund for the Employees8HU8 of the Shipping Corporation of India Ltd, a member of the Fund discharged or dismissed by the Employer shall forfeit all claims on the Fund so far as the Employers contribution are concerned. Hence, please let me know under which Rule of the Provident Fund, above dismissed shore employees have been paid PF contribution of the Employer.
4. If any management approval has been obtained for releasing PF contribution of the Employer in case of Dismissed shore Employee as mentioned in s. no. 2, then please provide me a certified copy of management approval.
Having not received any response from the CPIO, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 24.08.2020. FAA's order, if any, is not available on record.
File no. - CIC/SCOTL/A/2021/600399 Information sought:
The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 04.06.2020 seeking the following information:
"In order to get justice from SCI Management in the matter of Disciplinary Proceedings against me and payment of retirement dues to me, I request you to provide me following information and documents. SCI has been asking SC./51708C employees to get their Caste Certificated validated.
1. I want to know caste certificates of how many employee were invalidated by Scrutiny committee.
2. services of how many employee were closed i.e separation was called closure of service after caste certificate was invalidated 2
3. how many employees were Dismissed after caste certificate was Invalidated,
4. Is there any laid down policy or rules on action to be taken against the employee whose caste certificate is invalidated.
5. Please provide me a copy of the policy or rules as mentioned in s.no. 4.
6. Is there any laid down policy or rules specifying guidelines / circumstances under Which services of the employee can be closed.
7. Please provide me a certified copy of this policy or rules as mentioned in s.no. 6.
8. Is there any laid down policy or rules specifying guidelines / circumstances under which an employee can be issued separation letter specifying separation status as Closure of service
9. Please provide a certified copy of this policy or rules as mentioned in s.no.
8.
10. Please provide me a certified copy of management approval note approving separation as closure of service of the Employees whose caste certificate were invalidated.
11. Please let me know which retirement benefits have been paid to the employees whose separation status was closure of service and whose caste certificate was invalidated.
12. Is there any policy or rule specifying which retirement benefits are to be paid to the employee who has been issued separation letter as Closure of service?
13. Please provide me a certified copy of the policy or rule as mentioned in s.no. 12 .
14. In the absence of policy or rule as per s.no. 12, if any specific management approval has been taken for release of various retirement dries to the employee who has been issued separation letter as closure of service, then kindly provide me a certified copy of the management approval note."
Having not received any response from the CPIO, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 24.08.2020. FAA's order, if any, is not available on record.
Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the non-receipt of information, the appellant approached the Commission with the instant set of Second Appeal(s).
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:-3
Appellant: Not present. (Remained unavailable for audio- conference hearing despite receipt of hearing notice on 12.02.2022.) Respondent: Sanjay R Bandekar, GM (TC) & CPIO present through audio- conference.
In case no. CIC/SCOTL/A/2021/600396- The CPIO invited attention of the bench towards his written submission dated 20.02.2022 relevant portion of which is as under -
" Shri Shankar Gyandeo Sadawarti, the Appellant in the subject matter has been an exemployee of the Shipping Corporation of India Ltd., who was General Manager and attained the age of sixty years in May 2018. He has been recruited as a Scheduled Tribe candidate on 20.06.1983. During the regular exercise of verification of caste certificate of SC/ST/OBC category in mid of 2012 Shri Sadawarti could not produce his caste based documents.
Therefore, Disciplinary proceedings were held against him, as per SCI's 'Conduct, Disciplinary & Appeal Rules 2011' (CDA Rules 2011). When Inquiry Report of Inquiry Officer was submitted by the Disciplinary Authority to him, Shri Sadawarti filed a writ petition before Bombay High Court. The Court passed an Order on 11.07.2018 asking Shri Sadawarti to co-operate with enquiry proceedings and directed Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee to verify his caste certificate.
The Caste Scrutiny Committee vide Order dt.08.05.2019 gave a decision that Shri Sadawarti does not belong to the caste of Halba (Scheduled Tribe) and his Certificate was invalidated by the Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee. Accordingly, Disciplinary Authority dismissed Shri Sadawarti on 30.05.2018 (prior his retirement date), vide Order dt.05.09.2019. Shri Sadawarti, as per SCI's CDA Rules 2011, appealed before the Appellate Authority i.e., 'Committee of Board' and also filed a Review Petition before the 'Board of Directors' on 24.06.2020. However, the Appeal and subsequently the Review Petition filed before Appellate Authority & Reviewing Authority were both dismissed. This decision of the Board was conveyed to him vide letter dt.17.02.2021.
Subsequently, Shri Sadawarti has filed Writ Petition in the Bombay High Court in August, 2021 challenging the Dismissal Order and for release of his final dues and benefits. Reply to Writ Petition by SCI is in the process to be submitted.
Parallelly, Shri Sadawarti has also appealed to the Asst. Labour Commissioner (ALC) for payment of Gratuity. ALC has issued the order in favour of Shri Sadawarti.4
SCI has appealed against the Order of ALC to Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Dy.CLC), however deposited the Gratuity amount in protest. But, Dy.CLC declined the Appeal. SCI is in the process of challenging the said Order in Bombay High Court and in the meantime requested Dy.CLC not to implement the Order.
We would like to inform that, since May 2018 Shri Sadawarti has submitted 17 RTI Applications upto March 2021, which consists of 159 queries. Shri Sadawarti has also filed 16 Appeals to the First Appellate Authority from July 2018 till May 2021. Most of the queries are pertaining to his final dues not being settled after dismissal.
In the subject mentioned Appeal, the RTI Application No.SCOIL/R/E/20/00042 was received on 04.06.2020 by the then PIO. The said RTI Application was acknowledged on 05.06.2020 but could not be replied due to severe pandemic conditions at that time. But, Shri Sadawarti has gone for First Appeal No.SCOIL/A/E/20/00016 dt.24.08.2020. The Appellant had sought information for four queries. Informatively, the then PIO could not reply due to Lockdown and also since he was suffering from Covid twice during that time and had to be hospitalized. Informatively, the undersigned took over from the then PIO on 20.12.2020 and subsequently replied three queries out of four queries, vide letter dt.26.04.2021 (copy attached). The fourth query is exempted from disclosure of information as it pertain to personal information of third party. Basis PIO's Reply, the First Appeal was disposed of by FAA on 07.06.2021 (copy attached).
It may be noted for kind submission of CIC, there were restrictions on regular attendance in the office. Therefore, due to skeletal attendance in the office there was delay in obtaining the required information from various departments, Therefore, the reply was delayed. Considering the fact that, now Mr. Sadawarti has filed Writ Petition against SCI in August 2021 and also SCI has appealed against the Order of ALC in the Bombay High Court, it is humbly submitted that Shri Sadawarti may be discouraged to make any further RTI queries on the subject of release of dues since his dismissal from service.
Since the matter is sub-judice, disclosure of any further information to Shri Sadawarti will adversely effect the stand taken by SCI in the court of law. ...... the delay in furnishing the RTI reply to Appellant may kindly be condoned due to the lockdown and prohibitive restrictions imposed by local authorities due to pandemic conditions."
In case no. CIC/SCOTL/A/2021/600399- 5 The CPIO vide their written submission dated 20.02.2022 apprised the Commission as under -
"...In the subject mentioned Appeal, the RTI Application No.SCOIL/R/E/20/00043 was received on 04.06.2020 by the then PIO. The said RTI Application was acknowledged on 05.06.2020 but could not be replied due to severe pandemic conditions at that time. But, Shri Sadawarti has gone for First Appeal No.SCOIL/A/E/20/00017 dt.24.08.2020. Informatively, the then PIO could not reply due to Lockdown and also since he was suffering from Covid twice during that time and had to be hospitalized. Informatively, the undersigned took over from the then PIO on 20.12.2020 and subsequently replied this query on 26.05.2021 which was pending (copy attached). Basis PIO's Reply, the First Appeal was disposed of by FAA on 07.06.2021 (copy attached). It may be noted for kind submission of CIC, there were restrictions on regular attendance in the office. Therefore, due to skeletal attendance in the office there was delay in obtaining the required information from various departments, Therefore, the reply was delayed..."
Decision:
The Commission at the outset considering the submissions of the CPIO condones the delay in providing a reply to the Appellant owing to challenging circumstances due to COVID situation.
Further, the Commission upon a perusal of facts on records finds no infirmity in the reply provided by the CPIO in response to both the RTI Applications as it adequately suffices the information sought by the Appellant as per the provisions of RTI Act.
In view of the above, no further intervention of the Commission is warranted in the matters and replies of CPIO are upheld.
The appeal (s) are disposed of accordingly.
Saroj Punhani (सरोजपुनहािन) हािन) Information Commissioner (सूचनाआयु ) 6 Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स#यािपत ित) (C.A. Joseph) Dy. Registrar 011-26179548/ [email protected] सी. ए. जोसेफ, उप-पंजीयक दनांक / 7