Zee
News: New Delhi: Friday, 26 September 2014.
An official
handling Right to Information application cannot "escape" his
responsibility of answering queries by simply forwarding the application to
other officials, the Delhi High Court has ruled upholding the penalty levied by
the CIC on a railway officer.
Upholding the
maximum penalty of Rs 25,000 levied by the Central Information Commission on a
railway officer, Justice Vibhu Bakhru said, "Section 6(3) of the Act
cannot be read to mean that the responsibility of a CPIO is only limited to
forwarding the application to different department/offices."
The High
Court said forwarding an application by a public authority to another public
authority is not the same as a public information officer of a public authority
arranging or sourcing information from within the organisation.
According to
the Section 6(3) of RTI Act, if a CPIO receives an application the subject
matter of which is more closely related to another public authority, he must
transfer the application or the portion of it to the concerned authority within
five days of receiving the application.
However, when
the matter is concerning their own public authority, CPIOs can seek help of
fellow officers under Section 5(4) of the RTI Act. The law mandates the
officer, whose assistance has been sought by the CPIO, to render all the
assistance.
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