Is it mandatory to give service certificate to all the employees?
26 Apr, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Bank of Baroda (BoB) seeking information about the rules under which he was punished. He specifically wanted to know as to why he was not given the service certificate; and under what rules was the departmental and vigilance inquiry done against him. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided some information to the appellant.
Proceedings
During the hearing the before Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent stated that the appellant is a dismissed employee of the bank and that the service certificate is given under certain rules and that issuance of this service certificate is not mandatory, i.e., the service certificate is given only to those employees whose services have been satisfactory. The respondent also stated that it is as per the normal banking administrative system under which whenever there is a delinquency, the bank, under its supervisory role and in the interest of good administration, is free to carry out the departmental proceedings. The respondent also cited clause 12(c) of Memorandum of Settlement on disciplinary action procedure for workmen. The appellant stated that what the respondent is stating about service certificate is not correct, as he has already received the service certificate. He further submitted that his grievance against the bank is that he had to wait for 7 years for the service certificate which shows the ad-hocism in the bank on account of which he has posed the questions.
View of CIC
The Commission directed the respondent to provide the sought information to the appellant.
Comments
While the information sought in the case does not merit much discussion, it highlights the ad-hocism prevalent in system and how the RTI Act is being used to put an end to it.
Citation: Mr. Anurag Kumar v. Bank of Baroda in Decision No. CIC/VS/A/2012/000068/02741
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1233
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission