Demand of bribe for providing documents under RTI

Background        

The appellant sought information related to the treatment of his wife, like copies of all the documents pertaining to her pre-natal treatment and copies of all the documents related to birth /treatment of her baby. The appellant filed a complaint with the Central Information Commission (CIC) stating that the information was not provided and bribe was demanded. He further submitted that despite repeated attempts, the information regarding his wife and daughter were received by him only after the issue of notice from the Commission for hearing was served to the PIO. The PIO was not able to give any satisfactory explanation for the delay.

View of CIC

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 Commission awarded a compensation of Rs. 3000/- to the complainant for the loss and detriment suffered by him in pursing the appeal and getting the information late. Further, the Commission recommended for recovering the amount from the salary of the person responsible for refusing to give the information without any reasonable cause. The Commission also issued a show cause notice to the PIO to give reasons why penalty should not be levied on him as mandated under section 20(1).

Citation: Mr. Ranjit Puri v. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in Decision No. CIC/AD/C/2011/000777/SG/18773