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Sunday, June 14, 2009

How serious is Indian Railways about implementing RTI Act!

On 19-12-06, Shri Bimal Khemani, Senior Citizen and Aligarh based RTI Activist, filed an RTI application in the name of CPIO, Indian Railway, Aligarh Jn., Aligarh asking for some information about Passenger Reservation System at Aligarh Jn.. The application was not accepted by any staff or Sr. Station Manager or any other staff at the station, and on being refused the same was forwarded through the CAPIO, the Deptt. Of Posts, Aligarh, which was also returned back by CAPIO on 05-01-07 with a remarks from Railway authority isha nam ka post bharatiya rail me nahI hai Against this an appeal was filed before the CIC on 24-02-07, which has never heard nor rejected till date.

On 13-10-07, he filed another RTI application with the CPIO, Railway Board, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi, with the following points:
Railway prashasan ke antargat karyarat vibhinn station me kitane station/junction par jan suchana adhikari namit kar mul kanun ki bhawananusar unake nam pate sarvajanik kiye kripaya suchit kare. , Dilli, nai-dilli evaM Aligarh junction ke jan suchana adhikari ken am pate evaM niyukti ke dinank sahit suchit kare

On 02-11-07, Mr. P.P.Pandey, Dy. GM Law and CPIO informed 
1) CPIO, Northern Railway, Dy. GM Law , Northern Railway HQs office, New Delhi (for any information pertaining to Northern Railway)
2) PIO, Delhi Division, Northern Railway, Sr. DMM, DRM Office, State entry Road, New Delhi for any information pertaining to Delhi Division, Delhi, New Delhi and Aligarh are part of Delhi Division
Being not satisfied, 1st appeal with FAA Sri A.K.Goyal, Addl. Member (Com) Railway Board, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi was filed on 16-11-07 and later on 2nd appeal with CIC filed on 09-01-08, which was heard on 15-10-08 by CIC, Mr.O.P.Kejriwal, through AUDIO conferencing, and order CIC/OK/A/2008/00226, 00490, 00569 dt. 24-11-08 was passed with following directions
After listening to both the parties, the commission still felt that arrangements could be made at Railway Junctions to declare a senior official like the station master or his immediate sub-ordinate to act as an APIO to receive RTI applications together with the fee and provide a receipt to the applicant and forward them to concerned PIO as suggested by the applicant.

On receipt of this order, the CPIO Northern Railway HQ, vide his letter dated 19-03-09 informed as under the matter was taken up with the concerned authorities to examine the feasibility of the suggestion. After due deliberation it has been decided that Station Master or his immediate sub-ordinate perform a highly specialized job. They need to remain totally focused towards operational requirements of safe running of train, as a result of which the job such as
dealing with RTI application can not be entrusted to the Station Master or his immediate sub-ordinate On being dissatisfied , a complaint u/s.18 for non-compliance of CIC decision was filed on 20-04-09 with following points:

Brief facts leading to the complaint :
Sec. 5 (2) of RTI Act,2005, reads as follows: 5. (2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every public authority shalldesignate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-divisional level or other sub-district level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be
The PIO in his above reply stated tha Station Master or his immediate subordinate perform a highly specialized job. They need to remain totally focused towards operational requirement of safe running of train.

This is not a true statement of the PIO. Railway administration has various departments viz, COMMERCIAL, ENGINEERING, CATERING etc. apart from train running. The work of CAPIO can easily be entrusted to them without hampering the job of safe running of the train. Likewise many other Govt. departments will seek exemptions viz. AIR PORT AUTHORITY, ELECTRICITYBOARDS, BANKS etc.etc.
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On 09-02-09, another RTI application was moved as follows:

1. Please provide me with the name and addresses of APIO appointed by the Northern Railway authority in their jurisdiction as per decision no. CIC/OK/A/2008/00226, 00490, 00569 dt. 24-11-08 issued by the Central Information Commission

2. Please provide me with the self attested copy of the file noting and note sheet about appointment of APIO with reference to above decision.

3. Please provide me with the status of Aligarh Jn. , whether it is sub-divisional level or below than name all the sub-divisional level Railway station under your jurisdiction

On 20-03-09 First appeal with FAA made but no any response

On 01-04-09 Reply from PIO received as under .

1. The reply has already been sent to commission. The copy of same has again enclosedherewith for information.

2. As desired the photocopy of PP-1 and PP-8 are enclosed herewith for information.

3. You are requested to approach CPIO,NCR as the said station falls under NCR

On 23-04-09 2nd appeal before CIC filed with the following facts.

Point no. 1 . Reply is not correct hence can not be accepted.

Point no. 3 The portion must have been forwarded by the CPIO to the appropriate authority as per sec.6(3)

This appeal is now fixed for hearing on 16-06-09 at 3.00 p.m. before CIC Mrs. Omita Paul, and the above complaint is said to be under process.

-- 
BIMAL KUMAR KHEMANI,
09359724625

1 comment:

sandy said...

railway empolyee in job not working for railway and doing some other business that is giving finance to other raiway families and getting interest from them by keeping there pass books and atm cards how can he punished this all he is doning even not attending to job and runing business on his wife's name