Appellant alleged that the Date of Birth in his service record is 1956 instead of 1966, hence, he had to retire early from his services - Service record were denied claiming non- availability - CIC: File an affidavit that the records are not available
28 Jun, 2019O R D E R
1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), Kanhan Area, seeking certified copies of complete documents based on which details relating to his employee code NEIS No. 17827312 were entered in the SECL records.
2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the grounds that the CPIO did not provide the information/documents sought for by him stating that no such documents are available. He contended that he was employed as a driller and had retired from WCL, Ghorawadi Colliery on 31.10.2016. Hence, he had sought documents relating to his service record. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide the information sought for.
Hearing:
3. The appellant Shri Mool Singh and the respondent Shri S.P. Wandhe, Manager (Pers.), Western Coalfields Limited, Kanhan Area, Chhindwara attended the hearing through video-conferencing.
4. The appellant submitted that he is not satisfied with the CPIO’s response to his RTI application. He stated that the records sought by him were maintained manually by the respondent authority at the relevant point of time and would have been later computerized. Hence, the records must be available with the respondent. He further stated that the Date of Birth entered in his service record is 1956 instead of 1966, hence, he had to retire early from his services. Hence, the information sought for should be provided to him.
5. The respondent submitted that the appellant has been already informed vide reply dated 22.08.2017 that the basic documents on the basis of which NEIS data was prepared and the employee code of the appellant was generated during that period cannot be retrieved due to non-availability of the documents as on date which are more than 30 years old. Hence, the information sought for is not available in the records of the public authority.
Decision:
6. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and perusing the records, observes that as per the respondent, the documents sought by the appellant cannot be retrieved since the same are not available in the records of the respondent authority. In view of this, the Commission directs the respondent to file an affidavit with the Commission deposing that the records, on the basis of which the NEIS data relating to the appellant was generated, are not available with respondent. Hence, no information can be provided to the appellant. A copy of the affidavit shall also be provided to the appellant. The above directions of the Commission shall be complied with, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
7. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
8. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sd/
Sudhir Bhargava
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Mool Singh v. CPIO, Western Coalfields Limited in Second Appeal No. CIC/WCLTD/A/2017/163501, Date 16.04.2019