Central Information Commission
Mr.C J Karira vs Ministry Of Railways on 22 June, 2012
In the Central Information Commission
at
New Delhi
File No: CIC/AD/C/2012/000936
Date of Hearing : June 22, 2012
Date of Decision : June 22, 2012
Parties:
Applicant
Shri C.J.Karaira
Plot No.26, Road No.1
Balamrai Society
Mahendra Hills
Secunderabad 500 026
The Applicant was present at NIC Studio, Hyderabad
Respondents
South Central Railway
Rail Nilayam
Secunderabad 500 071
Represented by : Shri A.K.Singh, Secretary(PG)
NIC Studio, Hyderabad
Information Commissioner : Mrs. Annapurna Dixit
___________________________________________________________________
In the Central Information Commission
at
New Delhi
File No: CIC/AD/C/2012/000936
ORDER
Background
1. The Commission received a petition dt.4.3.12 from the Complainant u/s 18(1)(b) of the RTI Act, 2005 against the Public Authority, South Central Railway, Secunderabad complaining about the non compliance with the CIC directive No. CIC/AT/D/10/000111 dated 15.11.2010 by the Public Authority .
In his petition, the Complainant requested the Commission:
i) to direct the South Central Railway, Seunderabad, to secure compliance with the provisions of the RTI Act, especially suomotu disclosure u/s 4(1)(b).
ii) to direct the South Central Railway to abide by the CIC Directive and immediately appoint a Transparency Officer.
iii) to direct the South Central Railway to immediately modify the contents of its website vis a vis the RTI Act and bring it into conformity of the RTI Act by publishing information prescribed in Sec.4(1)(b)(i) to 4(1)(b)(xvii)
iv) to direct the South Central Railway to accept the fees by modes of payment as prescribed in the RTI rules - that is in favour of 'Accounts Officer'
v) to inquire into this willful and malafide disobedience of the CIC's directives by the South Central Railway and fix responsibility as to which public servants in the public authority were responsible for willfully disobeying this directive of the CIC.
vi) to initiate prosecution proceedings u/s 166, 187 and 188 of the IPC against the public servants of the South Central Railway who have willfully disobeyed and disregarded this directive of the CIC.
vi) to pass any other orders that the Commission may deem fit.
Decision
2. On examining the Appellant's petition and on perusing related documents the Commission noted that the said directive of the Commission has since been stayed by the Delhi High Court.
3. Be that as it may, the Commission after carefully considering the various points raised by the Complainant in his petition decided as given below:
Points (i) & (iii) The Complainant submitted that the Public Authority is mandated u/s4(1)(b) of the RTI Act to publish various details about the Organization and under Section 4(2) to suo motu provide as much information as possible to the public through internet. He however pointed out that not all details of the Public Authority as specified in the 17 sub clauses of Section 4(1)(b) have been placed on the website of the Public Authority within 120 days of the enactment of the Act as stipulated in the Act itself and not even after nearly 7 years of implementation of the Public Authority. The Appellant also recounted details of harassment that a person has to undergo while trying to access information on the website of the Public Authority since the information is not available at one place and is scattered across websites of the Head Office (Rly. Board ) and the Zonal and Divisional offices. The Appellant cited as an example the fact that details of remuneration being paid to Shri A.K.Singh, Secretary (PG) are not available on the website . Shri A.K.Singh, who inspected the website admitted that this information was indeed not available on the website and assured the Commission that the information published in the 17 manuals u/s 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act will be uploaded on the website at the earliest.
The Respondent at this stage pointed out that some information which is available with the Railway Board or with other Zonal offices or Divisional offices including important policy decisions and the administrative and quasi - judicial decisions taken at the level of the Ministry (Railway Board) cannot be accessed through their website since such links facilitating access to all websites of the Railways have not yet been introduced.
The discussions that took place subsequent to the Respondents informing the Commission that one cannot access some information through their website, resulted in an agreement that as mandated by the Law in Section 4(1)(a) of the RTII Act, efforts should be accelerated to interlink all the Zonal/Divisional offices with the office of the Railway Board so that any website of the Rly. Board or of Zonal/Divisional offices of the Railways can provide links to other websites of railways so that information in respect of Section 4(1)(b) and 4(2) can be easily accessed by an information seeker. The Commission after hearing both sides, directs the PIO/Competent Authority of the Public Authority to ensure that all the information as mandated u/s4(1)(b) of the RTI Act is not only published but also put up on the internet so that it is easily accessible to information seekers. This exercise should now be completed within 10 days of receipt of this Order and a compliance report sent to the Commission and to the Appellant by 25th of July, 2012. Any failure to adhere to the directions of the Commission will compel the Commission to initiate penalty proceedings against the PIO u/s 20(1) of the RTI Act. The Public Authority, if they so desire, may seek the assistance of various RTI Groups so that the maximum information is put on the website thereby reducing the need of the citizens to file RTI Applications.
The Commission also directs that the PIO/competent authority initiate dialogue with the Railway Board in order to develop the outlines of a proposal for putting in place a computerized network of connections throughout the country for easy access of information related to railways , within two months of receipt of this Order as per provisions of Section 4(1)(a) of the RTI Act . The Commission and the Appellant may be kept informed every 15 days about the progress being made in this connection. It is recommended that this exercise be completed within the next 6 months.
Points (ii), (v) and (vi) Since the DoPT has obtained a stay order from the Delhi High Court on the said directive of the Commission, these points can only be taken up after the court pronounces its final decision. Point (iv) The Commission has consistently held that since Rule 3 of the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 stipulates that the RTI application fee should be paid to the 'Accounts Officer' any refusal of acceptance of RTI fees in favour of 'Accounts Officer' would be viewed seriously and would be considered as deemed refusal under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act. The PIO is therefore warned not to deny the fees that is inadvertently sent in the name of the 'Accounts' officer by the Applicant even though no account exists in the name of 'Accounts officer.
5. The complaint is disposed off with the above directions.
(Annapurna Dixit) Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy (G.Subramanian) Deputy Registrar Cc:
1. Shri C.J.Karaira Plot No.26, Road No.1 Balamrai Society Mahendra Hills Secunderabad 500 026
2. The Public Information Officer South Central Railway Rail Nilayam Secunderabad 500 071
3. Officer in charge, NIC