Compensation under RTI – An employee of ONGC had alleged corrupt practices on the part of someone in the ONGC – he was not promoted timely and wanted to be compensated for this – CIC: under RTI Act there is no provision of compensation for non-promotion

ORDER

1. It seems the Appellant had sent a complaint to the President of India alleging corrupt practices on the part of someone in the ONGC and siphoning off of some 25 lakh rupees by making fraudulent signatures. Under RTI, he wanted to know about the status of enquiry into his complaint. The CPIO had informed him that his complaint had been forwarded to the CBI for further necessary action. Not satisfied with this response, he had preferred an appeal. The Appellate Authority had directed the CPIO to transfer the RTI application also to the CBI. Following this, the CPIO transferred the RTI application. The CBI then informed him that his complaint had been forwarded by them in turn to the CVO of the ONGC.

2. The Appellant submitted that nobody seemed to have enquired into his complaint and no one had sent any information to him about this. His original complaint was addressed to the President of India. The President Secretariat had forwarded his complaint to the CBI and that is what the CPIO had truthfully informed. Even the CBI had not taken any action in his complaint at its level and, instead, sent it further to the CVO of the ONGC to take whatever action. Now, if the CVO of the ONGC has taken any action in the matter, it is not known. Since the Appellant has been waiting for so long to know about the final outcome of his complaint, we would like the CVO of the ONGC to write to him and inform him if he has taken any action on the said complaint or not. Therefore, we direct the Registry to forward a copy of our order to the CVO of the ONGC along with the original RTI application, the copies of the orders transferring the RTI application from the President Secretariat to the CBI and further to the CVO of the ONGC. The CVO of the ONGC is directed to write to the Appellant within 10 working days of receiving this order and inform him about the status of the complaint.

3. The Appellant also submitted that the ONGC authorities had victimized him by not promoting him in time because he had complained against the authorities and, therefore, he should be compensated for the victimisation and mental harassment he had to suffer. Unfortunately, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act there is no provision for award of compensation for not promoting an officer of any public authority; the provision of compensation is for causing detriment or harassment by not giving the information in time or not giving the right information. In this case, the CPIO concerned both in the President Secretariat and the CBI has duly informed the Appellant about whatever action they had taken on his complaint. Therefore, we cannot award any compensation. If the Appellant has any grievance against his own authorities, he is welcome to approach the competent authority within the government or any court of law for relief.

(Satyananda Mishra)

Chief Information Commissioner

Citation - Sh. S S Singh v. President's Secretariat, Central Bureau of Investigation, in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/001536