CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Appeal No.CIC/WB/A/2007/00712 dated 17.5.2007
Right to Information Act 2005 - Section 19
Appellant - Shri Neeraj Kumar
Respondent - Dep't. of Personnel & Training (DoPT)
Facts
:
Shri Neeraj Kumar in his letter of 29.12.06 received in the Dep’t on 12.1.07
applied to the CPIO, Department of Personnel & Training seeking the following
information:
“Information & Documents sought- Point No. 1
Whether on the basis of guidelines 4.4 above read with guideline
4.3.1 and 4.3.2 above or any other OMs/Circulars/ Instructions/
Orders etc of DOP&T or any other Department/ Ministry, is the
“period of study leave” considered as “period of regular qualifying
service” of an officer for purposes of promotion, seniority, pension
and increments? In this connection kindly provide copies of all
relevant OMS/Circulars/ Instructions/ Orders etc. of DOP&T or any
other Department/ Ministry.
“Information & Documents sought- Point No. 2
On the basis of any OMs/ Circulars/ Instructions/Orders etc. of
DOP&T or any other Department/ Ministry, whether the ‘period of
probation’ of an officer is considered as ‘period of regular qualifying
service’ of an officer for purposes of promotion, seniority, pension
and increments? In other words whether ‘period of probation’ is
taken into account for determining the ‘period of regular qualifying
service’ of an officer for purposes of promotion, seniority, pension
and increments? In this connection kindly provide copies of all
relevant OMS/ Circulars/ Instructions/ Orders etc. of DOP&T or any
other Department/ Ministry.
“Information & Documents sought- Point No. 3
On the basis of any OMs/ Circulars/ Instructions/ Orders etc of
DOP&T or any other Department/ Ministry, whether ‘period of extra-
ordinary’ leave taken by an officer is considered as ‘period of
regular qualifying service’ for purposes of promotion, seniority,
pension and increments? In this connection kindly provide copies
of all relevant OMS/Circulars/ Instructions/ Orders etc of DOP&T or
any other Department/ Ministry.
“Information & Documents sought- Point No. 4
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On the basis of any OMS/Circulars/Instructions/ Orders etc of
DOP&T or any other Department/ Ministry, whether ‘period of
maternity of earned leave or medical leave or half pay leave or
leave not due” leave taken by an officer is considered as ‘period of
regular qualifying service’ for purposes of promotion, seniority,
pension and increments? In this connection kindly provide copies
of all relevant OMs/ Circulars/ Instructions/ Orders etc. of DOP&T
or any other Department/ Ministry.
“Information & Documents sought- Point No. 5
Copies of Service Rules (SR) and Financial Rules (FR) applicable
to Central Civil Services, along-with relevant OMS/Circulars/
Instructions/ Orders etc. of DOP&T or any other Department/
Ministry issued in respect of such SRs and FRs, may kindly be
provided.
“Information & Documents sought- Point No. 6
Copies of all rules applicable to Central Civil Services in respect of
following matters along-with copies of relevant OMs/ Circulars/
Instructions/ Orders etc. of DOP&T or any other Department/
Ministry issued in respect of such rules, may kindly be provided.
a. Probation b. Period of Probation c. Performance Appraisal
Reports/ Probationer Report/ Evaluation Repo4rt written during the
period of probation d. All kinds of leave e. which officer is
considered ‘Head of Department”? f. Rules regarding
representation to higher authorities on service matters g. Meaning
of “Regular Service” for the purposes of promotion.
Important Note 1
As per Section 2(F) of the RTI Act, 2005, ‘information’ also means
‘opinion/advice’. Hence DOP&T is also requested to provide its
opinion in respect of what has been requested in point’s nos. 1 to 4
above.
Important Note 2
In this application the primary purpose is to seek the views of the
DOP&T on the OMS/ Circulars/ Instructions etc. issued by DOP&T
itself. Hence it is kindly requested that DOP&T may furnish the
requested clarifications as per the aforesaid information sought in
point nos. 1, 2, & 3 above rather than merely providing the
documents themselves DOP&T regularly provides clarification, in
respect of its OMS, Circulars, Instructions etc. to various
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Departments/ Ministries of the Govt. of India when they are
requested to do so by these Departments/ Ministries. Hence it is
requested that DOPT may kindly provide the aforesaid clarifications
to the applicant.”
To this he received a reply from Under Secretary, Shri A. K. Srivastav on
1.2.07 as follows:
“CPIO can furnish information only in respect of documents which
are under his position. Since the CPIO of Estt (D), DoPT is a
custodian of Circular No. 2011/5/86-Estt (D) dated 10.4.1989
regarding consolidated instructions on DPC and related matters,
the undersigned can furnish a copy of that instructions only. Since
these instructions are already in your possession as mentioned by
you in your application dated 29.2.2006, no further information/
material is available with the CPIO.”
Not satisfied with this response Shri Neeraj Kumar moved his first appeal
before Ms. Smita Kumar Director (Estt.-1) on 28.2.07 upon which he received an
order from Ms. Smita Kumar on 8.3.07 addressing all the points raised by him but
clarifying as follows:
“In accordance with the provisions contained in Para 2 (f) read with
Para 2(j) of RTI Act, 2005, the CPIO is required to provide material
information on the relevant subject which is available in his/ her
custody. It is also informed that it is not the intent of RTI Act to
provide clarifications.
The information asked by applicant is nonspecific and concerns
numerous issues. CPIO Estt. D is concerned with Seniority and
promotion only.”
Remaining points were referred to the different sections / departments to
which they pertain. Subsequently, appellant received responses from Estt-II
Department, DOPT, Dep’t. Of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance and Under
Secretary(L) DOPT. The above letters informed him on the vagueness of his
request and inability to respond. However, the Dep’t. Of Pension & Pensionary
Welfare in their reply of 21.3.07, the Dep’t. of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance in
their reply of 22.3.07 and Estt.Pay-1 Section, DOPT in their replies of 21, 22 and
30.3.07 provided the following replies:
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DEPTT. OF PESNION & PENSIONARY WELFARE:
“In this regard s far as this Department is concerned, a copy
of Rule 15 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 relating to Period spent
on Probation and a copy of rule 21 ibid relating to Counting of
period spent on leave is enclosed for your information.”
DEPTT. OF EXPENDITURE, MINISTRY OF FINANCE:
“As per Rule 3(f) of Delegation of financial Powers Rules (DFPRs),
“Head of the Department” in relation to an office or offices under his
administrative control, means an authority specified in Scheduled I
and includes such other authority or person as the concerned
Department in the Central Government may, by order, specify, as a
head of the Department.
Provided that such a person is the Head of an identifiable
organization and the minimum of his revised scale of pay is not
lower than that of a Deputy Secretary to the Government of India.”
ESTT. PAY-1 SECTION, DOPT:
(i) “All duty in a post on a time-scale counts for increments in
that time-scale;
(ii) All leave except extraordinary leave taken otherwise than on
medical certificate and the period of deputation out of India
shall count for increment in the time-scale applicable to a
post in which a Government servant was officiating at the
time he proceeded on leave or deputation out of India and
would have continued to officiate but for his proceeding on
leave or deputation out of India.”
Appellant Shri Neeraj Kumar then moved his second appeal before us with
the following prayer:
“The applicant most respectfully prays that the Hon’ble
Commission may be pleased to pass an order directing the
respondents i.e. Department of Personnel & Training
(Government of India) and Department of Expenditure
(Government of India) to
1) Furnish information (which has still not been furnished
by them) requested for by the applicant vide his letter,
dated 29.12.2006.
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2) Furnish copies of the documents requested for by the
applicant vide his letter, dated 29.12.2006.
3) Pass any other order (S) as deemed fit and proper in the
facts and circumstances of the case.
4) Impose appropriate penalty on the CPIO, DOP&T and
CPIO, Department of Expenditure as per the provisions
of the Right to Information Act, 2005.”
The appeal was heard on 8.8.08. The following are present:
Respondent
Shri A. K. Srivastava, US.
Shri Smita Kumar, Dir.
Appellant Sh. Neeraj Kumar had been informed by Notice dated 20.6.08
regarding the hearing but opted not to be present. Ms. Smita Kumar submitted
that the CPIO had provided the applicant all the information held by the
Department. In the first appeal, she has gone further and referred the matter to
the other Departments holding the information, which have also responded.
Appellant has not asked for any copies of documents in his letter of 29.12.06. If
he wishes to have any documents, he is welcome to obtain the copies of the
same after making due application.
DECISION NOTICE
Our decision on each prayer of appellant Shri Neeraj Kumar is as follows:
1. It is not clear what information respondents have not furnished as it
appears to us that all the information held by the concerned Departments
in response to his questions has in fact been provided to appellant. This
is to be read with our Decision with regard to Point 2 below.
2. Appellant has not asked for any document in his application on 29.12.06,
but has simply referred to various documents on which he has sought
clarification. If there are any documents that he seeks, he may write
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directly to Ms. Smita Kumar Director in this regard who is agreeable
to providing him copies of whichever documents he desires to
access.
3. Information as described under sec. 2(f) is only such information as is held
in material form. If, therefore, the CPIO is in possession of any recorded
opinion on various OMs and Orders of the Department, he is required to
provide these. However, it is not for the CPIO to provide clarifications of
various Orders of Govt. in any Department.
4. On the remaining two questions, since there has been no digression of
time limit mandated there will be no penalty.
The appeal is, therefore, dismissed. Reserved in the hearing in case
appellant were to appear before us subsequently in view of the bad weather, this
decision is announced in open chamber on the 11th day of August 2008.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.
(Wajahat Habibullah)
Chief Information Commissioner
11.8.2008
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against
application and payment of the charges, prescribed under the Act, to the CPIO
of this Commission.
(Pankaj Shreyaskar)
Joint Registrar
11.8.2008
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