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2025 Supreme(Online)(CIC) 3130
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Vinod Kumar Tiwari, IC
A K Das – Appellant
Versus
PIO, Office of the Sr. Divisional Signal & Telecom Engineer, South East Central Railway – Respondent
CIC/SECRL/A/2024/108032
For the Appellants/Petitioners:
For the Respondents: Shri Abhinav Jarolia
The court emphasized the duty of public authorities to respond adequately to RTI requests and compliance with orders from appellate authorities.
Headnote:The judgment addresses the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, focusing on an appeal regarding a response to an RTI application dated 20.10.2023 filed by the Appellant, A K Das. The Appellant's dissatisfaction with the CPIO's inadequate response led to a First Appeal, ultimately resulting in a Second Appeal before the Commission due to non-compliance of the FAA's order. The Commission determined that the CPIO failed to adhere to the FAA's directives, warranting a Show Cause Notice against the concerned PIOs for such inaction. Subsequently, the Commission directed the present CPIO to furnish a detailed reply to the Appellant within two weeks, ensuring compliance with the RTI Act provisions, with additional assurance of oversight by the FAA.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. failure of cpio to provide conclusive responses. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4) |
| 2. non-compliance of faa's order leads to second appeal. (Para 5 , 6 , 7) |
| 3. commission issues show cause notice for cpio's inaction. (Para 9 , 10 , 12) |
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka नई िद(cid:24)ी, New Delhi – 110067 File No: CIC/SECRL/A/2024/108032 A K Das .….अपीलकता(cid:18)/Appellant VERSUS बनाम PIO, Office of the Sr. Divisional Signal & Telecom Engineer, South East Central Railway, 4th Floor, Remote Control Building, Kingsway, Nagpur - 440001 ….(cid:29)ितवादीगण /Respondent Date of Hearing : 28.07.2025 Date of Decision : 29.07.2025 INFORMATION COMMISSIONER : Vinod Kumar Tiwari Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 20.10.2023 CPIO replied on : 09.11.2023 First appeal filed on : 07.12.2023 First Appellate Authority’s order : 28.12.2023 2nd Appeal/Complaint dated : 09.03.2024 Information sought:
1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 20.10.2023 (offline) seeking the following information:
“Ref: Letter No-AKD/23/46 dated-31.07.2023 addressed to Sr.
DSTE/SECR/NGP & through DRM/SECR/NGP.
Kindly arrange to reply the following items as per RTI act'2005. The items are as follows
1) Kindly arrange to reply that what action has taken by DRM/SECR/NGP as per the above reference till date.
2) Kindly arrange to reply that what action has taken by Sr.
DSTE/SECR/NGP as per the above reference till date.
3) Kindly arrange to reply that upto which date I shall receive the same T.
A.
Please reply the above as per RTI act'2005 and the certified Xerox copies of reply must be send by post only.”
2. The CPIO furnished a reply to the Appellant on 09.11.2023 stating as under:
“This has reference to the above, seeking information under RTI Act
2005. In this context, the action is pertains to Under Process.”
3. Being dissatisfied, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 07.12.2023.
The FAA vide its order dated 28.12.2023, held as under:
“I have gone through the RTI application, present appeal and reply provided by CPIO.
The reply provided by CPIO & Sr. DSTE is not conclusive, hence CPIO & Sr. DSTE is directed. to review the RTI query on the basis of appeal and provide a fresh reply to the appellant within a period of 10 days.”
4. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied on the non-compliance of FAA’s order, appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
5. A written submission dated 21.07.2025 (copy marked to the Appellant) has been filed by Shri Abhinav Jarolia, Sr. DSTE/CPIO is taken on record.
Contents of the same are reproduced below:
“In reference to the notice dated 08.07.2025 concerning the matter of A.K. Das, Nagpur, it is respectfully submitted that the appellant in his RTI application dated 20.10.2023, addressed to the S.E.C. Railway-Nagpur division, sought information relating to the TA Journal for the month of January 2020.
The appellant sought information for the non-payment of the TA Journal for the month of January 2020. In response to the RTI application, the CPIO & Sr. Divisional Signal & Telecom Engineer, SECR, Nagpur, provided a reply on
09.11.2023, In this context the action is pertains to under process.
The appellant had submitted his Jan-2020 TA voucher in March 2020. However, due to the implementation of COVID-19 protocols and the nationwide lockdown implemented. Since the issuance of the COVID-19 protocols in March 2020, only a limited number of staff were working in the office, and additional allowances were stopped by the central government.
Consequently, the TA vouchers of the appellant were not processed.
Efforts were made to retrieve the appellant's January-2020 TA voucher from the concerned unit of staff. The appellant's TA voucher for the same month has now been forwarded to the concerned personnel department (Sr. DPO/NAG/SECR) office for further processing and early payment. And TA amount of Rs. 2160/- has been paid in the salary of month of February 2025. Further submitted that the hearing was scheduled via video
