TNN, 16 February 2010, 03:43am
NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) recently awarded Rs 50,000 as compensation to an RTI applicant after he spent two years unsuccessfully chasing taxi bills worth Rs 1 lakh from the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).
The information watchdog directed NCM to recover the amount from the salaries of officials who used the taxi services and conduct an investigation into the matter.
RTI applicant Rajeev Gupta had provided taxi services to NCM officials between 2007 and 2008. The commission ran up a bill of Rs 1 lakh but did not verify the bills or make payments due to lack of proper coordination between different NCM departments, the order said.
Ruling that a major concern of the RTI Act has been to promote transparency in functioning of public authorities with a view to ensuring accountability of public servants and authorities as well as to contain corruption of all forms, information commissioner M M Ansari said, "The appellant, a private service provider, has unnecessarily been harassed for about two years for non-payment of bills submitted by him for providing taxi services."
In his order, Ansari said NCM had given "evasive and misleading response" and such attempts could encourage corrupt practices in outsourcing services.
The CIC directed that a compensation of Rs 50,000 be awarded to Gupta within a month failing which penal interest at 10% per annum would be applicable. The NCM is also expected to give a compliance report and order an investigation into the matter.
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