Central Information Commission
*****
No.CIC/OK/C/2008/00451
Dated: 19 January 2009
Name of the Complainant : Shri Bhola Nath Srivastawa
R\o L.D.-115-A-I
Sleeper Ground Rly. Colony
Alambagh, Lucknow, UP, 226005
Name of the Public Authority : Northern Railway
Background:
Shri Bhola Nath Srivastav of Lucknow filed an RTI-application with the
Public Information Officer, Northern Railway, Lucknow, on 1 February 2008,
seeking information relating to seniority of employees.
2. Not getting any reply from the PIO, the Applicant approached the Central
Information Commission with a complaint on 31 March 2008, which was
registered in the Commission on 9 May 2008.
3. The Bench of Dr. O.P. Kejariwal, Information Commissioner, heard the
matter on 2 January 2009.
4. Shri Govind Prasad, Sr. DMM & PIO, Shri B.C. Nagar, DPO, Shri Ramsanehi
Kaushik, APO and Shri Rajendra Prasad, represented the Respondents.
5. The Complainant, Shri Bhola Nath Srivastav, was represented by Shri
Saidurrehman.
Decision:
6. The Commission heard both the sides in a case which dealt with the
seniority of the Appellant. According to the documents presented before the
Commission, the case had even had gone to Court. The Commission would like
to emphasise that such matters dealing purely with departmental administrative
matters should not come to the Commission and the Department should take
care to address to address them at the local level. It is for the Department to
see that the grievances of the employees are redressed early and with justice.
It is only when this does not happen that the Appellant has to take recourse to
the RTI-Act which puts everybody to inconvenience. In the present case, the
Respondents presented before the Commission a copy of the letter they had
written to the Appellant on 28 February 2008 which the Appellant never
received. Since the copy presented before the Commission carries a stamp of
dispatch together with serial number, the Commission presumes that the letter
was indeed dispatched. Considering the large number of cases where the
Respondents claimed that letter had been dispatched with the Appellant
insisting that he had not received them, the Commission has already directed a
number of authorities to ensure that correspondence relating to RTI should be
dispatched either by speed post or registered post. Since this particular letter
was dispatched before the course of directives given above, the Commission
now directs the Respondents to provide a copy of this letter immediately to the
Appellant. The Appellant may go through the contents and take action as
considered necessary.
7. The case is thus disposed of.
Sd/-
(O.P. Kejariwal)
Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy:
Sd/-
(G. Subramanian)
Assistant Registrar
Cc:
1. Shri Bhola Nath Srivastawa, R\o L.D.-115-A-I, Sleeper Ground Rly. Colony,
Alambagh, Lucknow, UP, 226005
2. The Public Information Officer, Northern Railway, Divisional Railway
Manager’s Office, Hazratganj, Lucknow Division, Lucknow
3. Officer Incharge, NIC
4. Press E Group, CIC