Verification of amount paid to casual labour by the Public Authority

Background

The appellant was a wife of a casual labor working in Sub Post Office and claimed that her husband was paid a salary of Rs. 456/- per month which was far less than the amount prescribed by the Government. She also suspected that her husband was made to sign in token of having received a higher amount. She filed an application under RTI seeking the copy of documents in relation to the salary of her husband. She further alleged that her husband’s services were terminated when she raised the issue of payment of low wages to him. The respondent failed to justify whether the amount was being made as per the departmental instructions / rules. They also could not produce any instructions / rules according to which wages were being made to the appellant’s husband.

View of CIC 

The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to produce the documents related with the rules / instructions during the relevant period and copies of the records regarding payments made to the appellant’s husband. Noting that the appellant had travelled all the way from Kanpur to Delhi along with her husband and has incurred expenditure of Rs. 1200/- from her pocket for the hearing which has remained inconclusive primarily because the relevant records have not produced before the Commission, the Commission awarded a compensation of Rs. 1200/- to the appellant.

Citation: Mrs. Soni Valmeiki v. SSPO in File No.CIC/LS/A/2011/000685