Information with respect to four Mandals of PWD was sought - Appellant alleged of wrong doings by contractor & claimed incomplete information was provided - Respondent: information has been provided - CIC: collect the information & facilitate inspection
31 Jan, 2015ORDER
1. The appellant has filed the above four appeals against the same Public Authority and hence they are taken up together for hearing today.
File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000882
2. Appellant had through his RTI application sought information with relation to work undertaken in Mandal – 114 from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2013 – Details of the tender and the status of the work pending with respect to it, detail of the contractor, whether the ousourced workers with the contractors are given minimum wages, details of the ousourced workers who are working before hand, etc. PIO replied on 12.02.2014 giving para wise reply. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant field First Appeal. FAA by his letter dated 26.02.2014 directed the PIO to furnish the information sought by the appellant. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant has approached the commission in Second Appeal.
File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000883
3. Appellant had through his RTI application sought information with relation to work undertaken in Mandal – 314 from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2013 – Detail of the tender and the status of the work pending with respect to it, detail of the contractor, whether the ousourced workers with the contractors are given minimum wages, details of the ousourced workers who are working beforehand, etc. PIO replied on 12.02.2014 giving para wise reply. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant field First Appeal. FAA by his letter dated 26.02.2014 directed the PIO to furnish the information sought by the appellant. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant has approached the Commission in Second Appeal.
File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000884
4. Appellant had through his RTI application sought information with relation to work undertaken in Mandal – 414 from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2013 – details of the tender and the status of the work pending with respect to it, detail of the contractor, whther the ousourced workers with the contractors are given minimum wages, detail of the Ousourced workers who are working beforehand, etc. PIO replied on 12.02.2014 giving para wise reply. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant field First Appeal. FAA by his letter dated 26.02.2014 directed the PIO to furnish the information sought by the appellant. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant has approached the commission in Second Appeal.
File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000886
5. Appellant had through his RTI application sought information with relation to work undertaken in Mandal – 214 from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2013 – details of the tender and the status of the work pending with respect to it, detail of the contractor, whether the Ousourced workers with the contractors are given minimum wages, detail of the Ousourced workers who are working before hand,etc. PIO replied on 12.02.2014 giving para wise reply. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant field First Appeal. FAA by his letter dated 26.02.2014 directed the PIO to furnish the information sought by the appellant. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant has approached the Commission in Second Appeal.
DECISION
File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000882 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000883
File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000884 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000886
6. Both the parties made their submissions. The appellant submitted he is seeking information through his four appeals from the Public Authority with respect to four Mandals of the PWD, namely, M114, M214, M314 and M414, relating to the work undertaken from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2013 with particular reference to the details of the tender award and the status of the work pending with respect to it, details of the contractor, whether the ousourced workers with the contractors are given minimum wages, details of the ousourced workers who are working beforehand,etc. The appellant says that he had worked in the Public Authority and retired and he knows about the corrupt activities prevailing there. The Contractor deploys a meagre staff, but shows more staff on record and pays below the minimum wages to the outsourced employees. Hence he is raising this information as a public interest activity. On the other hand, the respondents submitted that they have nothing to hide and provided all the information to the appellant. The Commission, therefore, directs the respondent authority to facilitate inspection to the appellant, in all the four appeals above, who has also agreed for the same, by fixing the dates and times Mandalwise as mutually agreed and mentioned below, for which the respondent authority is directed to take due precautions with respect of the people and records and make available all the related files for inspection, the tenders and the agreements which include terms and conditions, the contractors should also be present, to whom the work was outsourced, from whom the Respondent authority should also collect the information beforehand, list of workers engaged by contractors with addresses and payments made to them including EPF, proof of minimum wages payment, with protection to the appellant, on each day of inspection until the inspection is completed, as follows:
Monday 15122014/ 2.30 PM M114
Monday 22122014/ 2.30 PM M214
Monday 29122014/ 2.30 PM M314
Monday 05012015/ 2.30 PM M414
8. All the four appeals are accordingly disposed of.
(M. Sridhar Acharyulu)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Hukam Singh Saini v. Public Works Department in File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000882 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000883 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000884 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000886