CIC recommends completing the pending enquiry within three months
29 Dec, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the East Central Railway seeking to know why and how much payment was made to a particular Assistant Driver during his suspension period. He also wanted to know as to what action has been taken by the Public authority on the fake certificate submitted by him, based on which he was appointed. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the said person was only paid subsistence allowance during his suspension period as per extant rules. Regarding the action taken, the PIO stated that that the matter is still under investigation by the Vigilance branch.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant insisted for the copy of rules which allow such payment of subsistence allowance during suspension period and the exact amount paid to the suspended person. The appellant pointed that the Public Authority had taken many years to complete the investigation and doubted the authenticity of information provided to him by the PIO.
View of CIC
The Commission directed the PIO to provide the rules affirming the position that only subsistence allowance was paid during the suspension period and also to retrieve the payment vouchers from the accounts section and provide copies of the same to the appellant. To clarify the doubts of the appellant regarding the authenticity of information, the Commission directed the PIO to allow the appellant to inspect the relevant records dealing with payments made to the said person during the suspension period. The Commission also recommended that the enquiry which is going on for years should be completed within three months of receipt of this order and that the appellant be informed about the outcome of the enquiry as also about the action taken based on the outcome of the DAR proceedings.
Citation: Mr. Shyam Bihari Rai v. East Central Railway Divisional Railway Manager’s Office in File No. CIC/AD/A/2012/002180
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/917
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission