According to government data, so far the CIC has imposed penalties worth Rs 1.45 crore since 2005 when it came into being but only Rs 83 lakh could be recovered from the officials as in rest cases they have gone into litigation challenging the orders of the panel before courts.
The CIC which is the highest appellate authority under the Right to Information Act, has the powers to impose a penalty of Rs 250 per day, subject to a maximum of Rs 25,000, on a public information officer, if the information is not provided within mandatory 30 days period.
The number of days, for which penalties are levied, are calculated from 31st day onwards to the day when information is provided to an applicant.
The penalty is levied in an individual capacity to the public information officer from whose salary the amount is deducted and not on the department. The concerned officer can challenge the decision before a high court through a writ petition as appeals cannot be filed against CIC orders.
An RTI reply from Department of Personnel and Training says only Rs 83.36 lakh could be recovered by the transparency panel as the "rest of amount is involved in the writs before the Supreme Court.
"Although in some cases, the Commission has been made a party but there are many instanced where Commission is not made a party," the RTI reply provided to activist R K Jain said. PTI ABS ZMN