Information regarding appointment as Tax Assistant on compassionate grounds sought under RTI

Background

The appellant was appointed as Tax Assistant on compassionate grounds as her husband had gone missing. She later filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information related to her appointment such as when was her name first considered for compassionate appointment, was any appointment made before her? If yes, why was she not considered, list of appointments made between 1997-Dec 2004 along with dates of their applications and their eligibility. She also sought details of application and appointment of two other people who had been appointed on compassionate ground. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided point wise reply to the appellant.

Proceedings

During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that she had filed her first petition for compassionate appointment on 19.12.1995, while those two persons applied for compassionate appointments on March 21, 1997 and Dec 1, 1998 respectively. But, the department appointed the above two persons in 2002 while she was appointed later.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the appellant wants to know as to why two other persons had been appointed before her in spite of her having applied for compassionate appointment earlier than them. The Commission noted that the appellant may have a legitimate ground to receive a satisfactory response from the department but this query is in the nature of an explanation which is not ‘information’ as per the provisions of the RTI Act. The Commission reject ted the appeal holding that the sought information has been provided as available with the department.

Citation: Mrs. Bhanumati Iyer v. Income Tax Department, in File No.CIC/DS/A/2011/002241/RM