Central Information Commission
A M Kadia vs Western Railway Mumbai on 12 February, 2025
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गंगनाथ माग, मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई िद ी, New Delhi - 110067
File No: CIC/WRAIL/A/2023/143849
A M KADIA .....अपीलकता/Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
PIO,
Western Railway, Headquarter Office,
Churchgate, Mumbai - 400020 .... ितवादीगण /Respondent
Date of Hearing : 06.02.2025
Date of Decision : 11.02.2025
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER : Vinod Kumar Tiwari
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 05.04.2023
CPIO replied on : 19.04.2023
First appeal filed on : 08.05.2023
First Appellate Authority's order : 14.06.2023
2nd Appeal/Complaint dated : 02.11.2023
Information sought:
The Appellant filed an RTI application (offline) dated 05.04.2023 seeking the following information:
"Sub- Request to supply me the information under RTI act 2005 regarding my application which was sent for considering my case for special contribution for Provident Fund & counting of casual labor services for pensionary benefits- Case of Shri A. M. Kadia (Retired Khalasi Signal Workshop-Sabarmati). Ref- (1) My representation dated 13.11..2022 addressed to Honorable GM WRly.
Reelected Sir, Page 1 of 6 With due respect, with reference my representation as cited under reference, I have represented to honourable GM WR that I the undersigned had been retired from railway services on superannuation on dated 30.6.2011 but was denied for granting of pensionary benefits for the reasons of non contribution of amounts of Provident funds in general or through special Contribution for Provident Fund into account in full for Pensionary benefits while I had been serving in railway or working in quasi Administrative Services as clerk at Sabarmati Consumers Co Operative Society for the Period from 01-08-1973 to 31- 05-2002 which resulted in to great injustice to me and my family which consists me, my wife aged 67 years, unmarried daughter aged 47 years. The issue was raised vide WRMS's letter No. WRMS/ADI/2014/925 Dates 16/5/2014 and had been examined by GM WRly and it was advised by them to GS WRMS vide his letter as cited under reference that "Shri Anirudh. M. Kadia, Kh/Helper was appointed as khalasi in Scale Rs 2550-3200 (RP) in this W/Shop, vide this office 0.0.No:28/2002 dated 31/05/2002 in reference to DRM BRCs Memorandum No:Conf/(Sett)891/1/Quasi/Adm dated 11-04-2002. The employee retired From Rly Service on superannuation on 30-06-2011 vide this office 0.0.No.:29/2010 dated 08/10/2010 Prior to this absorption as Khallasi, he worked as a casual labour from 23-08 1971 to 02-11-1971-71 days, 21-11-1971 to 02-04-1972-134 day, 09-06-1972 to 01-04-1973-298 days & 02-04-1973 to 31-07-1973-21 days in construction department under XEN (C) ADI but no Temporary Status has been granted.
Shri. Anirudh.M.Kadia was working in Quasi Administrative Service as a clerk Sabarmati Consumers Co Operative Society for the Period from 01- 08-197 3 to 31-05-2002As per provision contained in Para 25 (1) of Railway Service (Pension) Rules 1993, The Previous Service of the employees of the former Private or Former State Railway companies and quasi-railway bodies who were absorbed in or appointed as fresh entrants in the Indian Railway Shall be taken into account for Pensionary Benefits under these Rules, if countable. (1) If under the existing orders, the service is not countable for special contribution to Provident Fund, the same shall not be taken count for Pensionary benefits.
(ii). If under the existing orders Previous Service is countable for only eligibility for special Contribution for Provident Fund the same shall be taken into account in full for Pensionary benefits.
Under above circumstances, both casual labour service as well as quasi administrative service cannot be considered for pensionary benefits. At the time of Retirement, Clarification for PF balance if any from previous service Page 2 of 6 As such the service countable for Pensionary Benefit is only Date of Retirement: 30-06-2011 Date of Regular Absorption: 31-05-2002 Qualifying service: 30-00-09 ie 9y 01 m Prior to this regular service from 01-06-2002 was sought for Sr AFA(W&S)SBI and Sr. AFA clarified that no PF has been transferred from any other unit/office prior to 31-05-2002. The employee has put only 09 years & 01 month service after his regular absorption in Group 'D' category as a Khallasi vide this Office, Office Order No: 28/2002 dated 31/05/2002 and minimum qualifying service for Pension is at least 9 yrs 9 months (which can be considered as 10 years). As such, he is not entitled for Pension and other settlement benefits other than service gratuity.""
Sir, it is clear from the above letter of GM (E) WR that the administration itself has admitted that I have been in the quasi Administrative services of Railways in Consumers Co-Operative Society Sabarmati from 01.08.1973 to 31.05.2002. At that time I was informed by the administration that your PF contribution is being made. Hence I remained in the confidence of the officers and on retirement I was told that the PF contribution for the period of your quasi administration service has not been made ie. remains.
Here I want to say that the contribution of PF was not deducted by the government at that time, it is not my fault, it is an administrative mistake, it is wrong to punish me. Apart from this, even on retirement, I should have been given the option to deposit the full amount in the Provident Fund under special contribution for this period but it was not given to me, due to which I and my family were deprived of pension. I and my family do not have any other source of income, I am an old man, I am a retired employee of railway, because of no income, I and my family are going through starvation, my family's condition is very bad. In this connection I have made a representation to honourable General Manager WR CCG Mumbai vide my application as cited under reference but the reply is still awaited though the considerable time has been passed.
in view of my above representation, I request to your kind honour to kindly supply me the following information under RTI act 2005 -5- (1) When and by whom this representation of mine which is mentioned in the reference was received in the office of the respected General Manager WR.?
(2) On receipt of my application, when did the concerned clerk/officer put up this file for necessary action and to whom?
(3) And after receipt of my above application, whether my case was placed in front of respected GM WR sir to bring it to his own knowledge.?Page 3 of 6
(4) Kindly supply me a Xerox copy of the notings/remarks of all those officers who dealt with my file during process and when the application was processed along with my file and what remarks were given by those officers ?"
The CPIO furnished a reply to the Appellant on 19.04.2023 stating as under:
"As far as General Branch is concerned, the remarks on your application has been received from the record keeping officer i.e Dy. Secy./Admin. & APIO, (02 Pages) is enclosed herewith.
Further it is stated that your application is being transferred to CPIO- Personnel Departments of HQ u/s 6(3) of RTI ACT 2005 and you will receiving reply directly from them also.
Encl. :- letter sent by Dy. Secy./Admin. & APIO as under:
Letter dt.13.11.2022 of Shri..A. M.Kadia was received in this office and same was forwarded to Principal Chief Personnel Officer, Personnel Department, Western Railway (as per Receipt enclosed) for further necessary action."
Being dissatisfied, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 08.05.2023. The FAA vide its order dated 14.06.2023, held as under.
"As far as information pertaining to General Branch Head Quarter office
- Churchgate for item no. 1 is concerned the reply has been furnished by Dy. General Manager (G) & CPIO- General Branch, vide letter dated 19.04.2023. The reply is reproduced as under.
"Letter dated 13.11.2022 of Shri A. M. Kadia was received in this office and same was forwarded to Principal Chief Personnel Officer, Personnel Department, Western Railway(as per e-receipt enclosed) for further necessary action".
Hence, the above information given by CPIO-General Branch stands good.
However, I have gone through your case, as per letter of CPIO- Personnel dated 06.06.2023, your RTI application was forwarded to CPIO-Engg. Workshop, Sabarmati, under section 6 (3) of RTI Act-2005 & you may receive reply directly from them."
Page 4 of 6Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied, appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Relevant Facts emerged during Hearing:
The following were present:-
Appellant: Present through VC.
Respondent: Shri Kuldeep Singh, Deputy Secretary-cum-APIO (General Branch), Shri Ram Prasad, CPIO-cum-Deputy Chief Personnel Officer and Shri Nitin, APIO-cum-Senior Works Manager, attended the hearing through VC.
The Appellant stated that he is not satisfied with the information provided by the Respondent qua the instant RTI Application.
Shri Ram Prasad, CPIO-cum-Deputy Chief Personnel Officer, submitted that the information sought in the instant RTI Application pertains to their Sabarmati Office and accordingly their office has transferred the RTI Application to the concerned custodian vide letter dated 06.06.2023.
Shri Nitin, APIO-cum-Senior Works Manager, submitted that their office has received the RTI Application on 07.06.2023 and has provided the relevant information based on available records to the Appellant vide letter dated 12.06.2023, stating as under:
"Item No.1:- Representation dtd. 05.04.2023 mentioned in your application is not received in this office./ Not dealt by this unit. Item No.2: Not dealt by this unit.
Item No.3:- Not dealt by this unit/Not pertaining to this unit. Item No.4:- Not available in this unit."
He added that upon receipt of the hearing notice from the Commission, an updated reply based on available records has also been given to the Appellant vide letter dated 29.01.2025, stating as under:
"Sr. No. 1): Information sought by the applicant is not available in this office. Sr. No. 2) Information sought by the applicant is not available in this office. Sr. No. 3) Information sought by the applicant is not available in this office. Sr. No. 4) Information sought by the applicant regarding noting/remarks of all those officers who dealt matter is not available in this office however employee has been replies many time by this office and copies the same are enclose here with."Page 5 of 6
Decision:
At the outset, it is observed that the instant Second Appeal has been filed after 5 months from the date of order passed by the First Appellate Authority and the same is beyond the stipulated timeframe as per the provisions of RTI Act and further no Application for Condonation of Delay has been placed on the record by the Appellant.
Nonetheless, the Respondent has provided suitable reply based on available records to the Appellant vide letter dated 12.06.2023 and 29.01.2025. No intervention of the Commission is 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 Date Page 6 of 6 Recomendation(s) to PA under section 25(5) of the RTI Act, 2005:-
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