Fulfilling responsibilities under the RTI Act during the absence of the PIO

Background        

The appellant sought information for a particular period such as the item wise list of total purchases, the bill wise details of the TDS deducted by the department and copies of the challans vide which the TDS deposited. He also wanted a copy of the employees who were paid honorarium along with total amount of honorarium paid. The Public Information Officer (PIO) asked the appellant to deposit Rs. 450/- as photocopy charges for obtaining the information.

Proceedings

During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that after the passage of 30 days from the date of RTI application he received a second letter asking him to deposit an amount of Rs. 550/-. He also raised an objection that the Superintendent had signed the above two letters and not the PIO. The respondent stated that PIO was on leave on account of marriage of his son during that period.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to provide all the documents to the appellant on payment of Rs. 450/- only. The Commission also held that in future an officer not below the rank of PIO should be nominated to carry out responsibilities of the PIO during his absence or leave period.

Citation: Mr. V.B. Khanna v. Education Department in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2011/002978