Which ministry has instructed for age relaxation to employees of the Union Territories Administration?
21 Jun, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) seeking to know the name of the Ministry/ office which had instructed that age relaxation be given to the employees of the Union Territories Administration. He also wanted the copies of all those instructions. The Public Information Officer (PIO) did not provide any reply to the appellant.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the same matter has come earlier in which the CIC had directed the PIO to search for any such available instruction and provide to the appellant. The respondent further submitted that he had tried his best to search for any such government order or instruction but could not locate anywhere in the SSC and the same was communicated to the appellant. The respondent further explained that the appellant has been seeking this very information from the SSC for quite some time through number of RTI applications.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the SSC does not have the desired information in its possession. If any such instruction was ever issued by the government for giving age relaxation to the employees of the Union Territories Administration, it should be available either in the MHA or in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The CIC advised the appellant to approach those public authorities as SSC has categorically stated that the said information is not available with them. The CIC issued show cause notice to the PIO for the delay in responding to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Harender Singh v. Staff Selection Commission in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/001870
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1381
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission