PIO: Information regarding supply of ticket of certain denominations in the name of certain individuals was not available - CIC: Provide point-wise information; Show cause notice issued to PIO why maximum penalty should not be imposed against him
18 Apr, 2018
ORDER
FACTS:
1. The appellant sought information regarding supply of ticket Rs. 2/- in the name of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar to Panipat Panipat HO; Rs. 10/- in the name of C.V. Raman to Panipat HO etc. The CPIO on 01.11.2016 stated that the information sought is not available and the same was upheld by the FAA. Being dissatisfied, the appellant approached this Commission.
Decision :
2. The officer submitted that the record about tickets in question was not being maintained before, as the entire system was manual, but after core banking system was implemented, specific instructions were given to maintain such records. Further, he said that the information was given to the appellant. A perusal of his reply shows that he said that “no information is available”. This cannot be construed as information given. Mr. Rajendra Kumar, Inspector of Posts attended the hearing without files, information or preparation, besides he showed a bunch of papers and claimed that he got only those papers and he was not aware of anything beyond. The Commission had to spend lot of time in finding the responses of public authority.
3. The Commission directs the respondent authority to provide point-wise information to the appellant, within 7 days and further directs Dr. Praveen Kumar, CPIO to show-cause why maximum penalty should not be imposed against him for not providing information.
4. All responses should reach the Commission before 17.03.2018 and the matter is posted for compliance and penalty proceedings on 18.04.2018.
SD/-
(M.Sridhar Acharyulu)
Central Information Commissioner
Citation: J B Punia v. PIO, Department of Posts in CIC/POSTS/A/2017/100436, Date of Decision–16.03.2018: