Penalty and delay for not responding to an application
6 Dec, 2011Background
The applicant sought the information about the scores/marks given to the candidates in various examinations/tests conducted by the Commission for the recruitment of clerks in 1994. The PIO did not respond to the application.
View of the CIC
The PIO could offer no plausible explanation for his failure to respond to the RTI request except to say that he might have taken a lot of time in consulting various divisions/offices of the SSC. The PIO submitted that in terms of the retention schedule followed by the Commission, the 1994 examination related records would have been destroyed two years after the completion of the said examination and, therefore, no record would be available in this regard. The CIC did not accept the argument and observed that if that is so, all that the PIO needed to do was to inform the Complainant accordingly which he did not do.
The CIC directed the PIO to appear on 16th January 2012 with the proper detailed reasons failing which the maximum penalty may be imposed on him. Holding that the applicant has suffered a lot of detriment and harassment because of the complete failure on the part of the PIO in not providing any information to her in time, the Commission granted a compensation of Rs. 5000/- under Section 19(8) (b) of the RTI Act to the applicant for the detriment and harassment.
Citation: Ms. Kabita Sahoo v. Staff Selection Commission in File No: CIC/WB/C/2010/000029SM