Penalty for delay – PIO: intermittent curfew imposed in town at that time due to which the functioning of the passport office had been severely affected - CIC: it is a reasonable cause for delay, no penalty to be imposed
11 Sep, 2013ORDER
1. In our order dated 24 July 2013, we had directed the CPIO concerned to appear before us and show cause why we should not imposed penalty on him for failing to provide the information in time. Today, the CPIO concerned appeared through his advocate and submitted that the delay of some 13 days in providing the information was caused because of intermittent curfew imposed in Bareilly town at that time due to which the functioning of the passport office had been severely affected.
2. We have carefully considered the above submissions. The Appellant had filed his RTI application on 25 June 2012 and it had been addressed to the CPIO of the CPV division in the MEA. The CPIO in the passport office at Bareilly received the application on transfer on 10 July 2012 and replied to the Appellant on 23 August 2012. Thus, the total delay on the part of the CPIO is just about 13 days. In the background of the law and order situation in the town at that time as submitted by the CPIO, we do not think the delay of 13 days is exactly very unreasonable. Therefore, we do not intend to impose any penalty on the CPIO concerned.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Dr. Atul Bahadur Singh v. Ministry of External Affairs in File No. CIC/SM/A/2013/900250