Details about the medical claim filed with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation
17 Jul, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) seeking information regarding the action taken on her medical claim form no. 97 for Rs 20,586/– along with current status of the case etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) submitted that the information was furnished to the appellant.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the complete file pertaining to the medical claim of the appellant’s husband had been lost by the Department and after taking photocopies and other medical documents duly signed by the doctors once again, the file had since been reconstructed and was currently under submission to the CAMO. The respondent also submitted that the file had been submitted to the CAMO and was received with certain objections which had been addressed and the file was once again resubmitted to the CAMO for obtaining his sanction before releasing payment. The appellant submitted that she has been put to great inconvenience and harassment and she had to run from pillar to post to obtain the signatures of the doctors a second time to complete the reconstruction of the lost file and she was yet to know about the current status of the case.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that as per the averments of the respondent, the reconstructed file is under submission to the CAMO and therefore, the said officer is the deemed PIO in this case as per the provisions of section 5(4) and section 5(5) of the RTI Act, being the holder of information. The CIC directed the CAMO to provide the current status of the case to the appellant. Referring to the preamble of the RTI Act, the CIC observed that the public authority has definitely caused great mental anguish and harassment to the appellant by losing the entire file pertaining to the Medical claim of her husband and the delay in sanctioning reimbursement of the claim as per rules has undoubtedly caused financial detriment to the appellant. The Commission directed the PIO / Deputy Director, Horticulture Department to provide information to the appellant regarding the final outcome of the enquiry which has been ordered into the loss of the appellant's file as soon as the enquiry is completed and if enquiry has already been completed then the information would be provided to her. Under section 19(8)(b) In its decision, the Central Information Commission or State Information Commission, as the case may be, has the power to require the public authority to compensate the complainant for any loss or other detriment suffered; of the RTI Act, the CIC granted a compensation of Rs. 2000/- to the appellant for the mental anguish, harassment and financial detriment caused to the her on account of loss of the relevant file by the officer who was responsible for its safe custody.
Citation: Mrs. Jagmati v. South Delhi Municipal Corporation in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2012/002530
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1458
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission