Should AG maintain list of pensioners - department or designation wise?
7 May, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Accountant General (AG) seeking the list of pensioners of the Agriculture Department of the State Government of Jammu and Kashmir who retired and were affected by a particular government order issued on 31 January, 2010. He specifically wanted to know the amount of gratuity payable in each case and the amount withheld. He also requested for a copy of the order of the competent authority by which some amount of the gratuity had been withheld. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided some information to the appellant. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) stated that they did not maintain the list of pensioners department wise or designation wise nor against any specific government orders and therefore it was not possible for the PIO to provide any such list except by collecting such information from various other public authorities.
Proceedings
During the hearing the before Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant complained that the information had been sent to him in several installments and was not complete. The respondent submitted that they did not have any readymade list of such officers with them and could provide the information only if the list of the officers is provided to them by the appellant.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the office of the AG does not maintain lists of pensioners either on the basis of their department or their designation and they do not have information on how many pensioners had been affected by which government order. The CIC held that in such cases the appellant should assist the PIO by providing the list of officers by obtaining the same from the state government authorities so that the PIO can then provide the other details. The omission ruled that the appellant had already provided a long list of pensioners to the PIO and in turn the PIO had also provided the desired information. The CIC further held that if there is any other names which have been left out the appellant should send those names to the PIO so that the PIO would forward the desired details to him.
Citation: Mr. Jagdish Kuchroo v. the Accountant General (A&E), J&K in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/001647
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1257
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission