Detailed list of sundry creditors to each Private/Government Owned Hospital by the Ministry of Health & family welfare etc. was sought - CIC: CGHS shall make proactive disclosure regarding its institutional creditors & amounts due towards each of them
24 Nov, 2017Information sought and background of the case:
Vide RTI applications dated 01.02.2017 & 09.05.2016, the appellant sought detailed list of (sundry creditors) ‘due payment’ to each Private/Government Owned Hospital by the Ministry of Health & family welfare. Details of medical facility given to CGHS beneficiaries/patients, employees/staff of all categories/ranks within Gurgaon and other NCR region by these hospitals such as Medanta, Artemis, Fortis, Max, Paras etc). Having not received any response from the public authority, the appellant filed an appeal which remained unheard. Feeling aggrieved, the appellant approached the Commission.
Relevant facts emerging during hearing:
Both the parties are present and heard. The appellant states that the present information sought has been subject matter of an already decided appeal bearing no. CIC/YA/A/2015/002. Attention is invited towards the decision in aforesaid appeal.
…. In the facts of the present case, wider public interest involved warrants disclosure of the information. The CPIO is directed to furnish information as sought by the appellant invariably containing names of private hospitals alongwith gross figures of payments due on account of CGHS beneficiaries. However, the details of beneficiaries need not be disclosed.
This order shall be complied within 4 weeks of receipt.
The appellant states that aforesaid decision is yet to be complied with. Per contra, Dr. Rupak Chatterjee, PIO states that the process of settlement of CGHS claims has been outsourced to UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Limited (UTIITSL). He states that there are 390 CGHS empanelled institutions & Hospitals in Delhi and earlier, due to heavy workload coupled with budgetary constraints there used to be delay of around one year in settlement of inter se claims of CGHS & empanelled hospitals. Upon query the PIO apprises the Commission with the fact that with sanction of higher budget in the preceding financial year, the settlement time has dropped to around 3-4 months. Information in compliance of the earlier order of Commission in CIC/YA/A/2015/002 is furnished to the appellant before the Commission.
After some deliberations, the appellant presses for issuance of directions qua disclosure of records relating to processing of claims of CGHS empanelled institutions proactively under Section 4(1)(b). The respondent apprises the Commission that steps are being taken for the same in compliance of the direction of Commission.
Decision:
After hearing parties and perusal of record, the Commission takes on record the statement made by the respondents. The respondent shall make proactive disclosure regarding the institutional creditors of CGHS & amounts due towards each of them. The updated data shall be placed in public domain through the web portal of CGHS within 2 months of receipt of this order. Endeavour shall also be made to keep the data dynamic and periodically updated. The appeals are allowed in aforesaid terms.
(Yashovardhan Azad)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Aseem Takyar v. CGHS in F. No. CIC/CGHSR/A/2017/135673 F. No.CIC/CGHSD/A/2017/178863, Date of Decision : 31.10.2017