CPIOs cannot escape responsibility by transferring RTIs: HC

An official handling Right to Information application cannot "escape" his responsibility of answering queries by simply forwarding the application to other officials, the Delhi High Court has ruled upholding the penalty levied by the CIC on a railway officer.
Upholding the maximum penalty of Rs 25,000 levied by the Central Information Commission on a railway officer, Justice Vibhu Bakhru said "Section 6(3) of the Act cannot be read to mean that the responsibility of a CPIO is only limited to forwarding the application to different department/offices."
The High Court said forwarding an application by a public authority to another public authority is not the same as a public information officer of a public authority arranging or sourcing information from within the organisation.

According to the section 6(3) of RTI Act, if a CPIO receives an application the subject matter of which is more closely related to another public authority, he must transfer the application or the portion of it to the concerned authority within five days of receiving the application.
However, when the matter is concerning their own public authority, CPIOs can seek help of fellow officers under section 5(4) of the RTI Act. The law mandates the officer, whose assistance has been sought by the CPIO, to render all the assistance.
The case relates to an RTI application filed by one Girish Mittal who sought some information from the railways but it was not furnished within mandated 30 days. When Mittal filed a complaint with the CIC, his application was transferred to RDSO by the concerned CPIO.

Finding the CPIO liable for not responding to the RTI application and not complying with its orders, CIC had slapped the maximum penalty of Rs 25000 on the CPIO which was challenged by the railways before the Delhi High Court.