System followed in Secretariat calls for reform: CIC

He made the observation while hearing the case of Balbir Singh Rajewal of the Bharti Kisan Union,who had filed two RTI applications in April last year — one in the office of the chief secretary and the other in that of the principal secretary,finance — seeking to know if the Centre had released drought relief for paddy for 2009-2010 for Punjab,and if yes,how much amount was released and with what riders. Notably,the issue had hit the headlines last year and generated a lot of political heat.

Both letters were delivered at the central receipt of the Secretariat and then sent to the office of the secretary,coordination,who in turn transferred these to the financial commissioner,development; financial commissioner,cooperation; principal secretary,planning,and secretary,food and civil supplies. All these departments,however,reported that the subject did not relate to them.

Since Rajewal did not receive information,he moved the commission in July. A notice was issued to the public information officers of all departments,and the during the course of hearing,it transpired that the matter related to the finance department,which finally sent a reply in August.

But as information was delayed by about four months,the complainant sought imposition of penalty,but the respondent stated that the RTI request was received only in August. After hearing the parties,the CIC said both applications were delivered at the same point in the Secretariat. “Both applications finally reached the Department of Coordination,which in turn forwarded these to the different departments,probably not knowing the exact department which dealt with the issue. Consequently,the request never reached the Department of Finance,which held the information,” said R I Singh.

“It is a story of errors. The first error took place at the level of posts and telegraph,which did not deliver the letter to the finance department. This may be because there is a central receipt branch at the Secretariat,” he said,adding that the second error took at the level of the Department of Coordination,which forwarded the request to four wrong departments.

The CIC said the PIO of the finance department was not at fault,but as Rajewal and BKU workers had to unnecessarily move the commission,resulting in six hearings over a period of four months,they must get a compensation of Rs 6,000.