DU official fined Rs25K for rejecting RTI query on Modi's degree
Amiya Kumar Kushwaha (IANS) 09 January 2017
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on Delhi University's Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) for rejecting an RTI application seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's graduation degree.
 
The Chief Information Commission, M. Sridhar Acharyulu, in a recent order, pulled up CPIO Meenakshi Sahay of Delhi University and said the rejections reminded him of the saying "penny wise, pound foolish".
 
The commission was hearing a plea filed by Delhi-based lawyer Mohammad Irsad, whose RTI query seeking inspection of Modi's degree was rejected on the ground that the Indian Postal Order (IPO) was not marked in favour of the Registrar of the university.
 
The commission, directing the "public authority" to recover an amount of Rs 25,000 from the salary payable to Sahay, said that after hearing the story that thousands of rupees had been spent in a legal battle for a postal order of Rs 10, "the proverb 'penny wise, pound foolish' has to be rewritten as 'rupee wise and thousand foolish' ".
 
Sahay in her defence argued that there was no malice in rejecting the RTI application and that she had to follow the policies laid down by the university.
 
The commission did not find any merit or justification in her argument, stating that the fee was not a material factor to throw out an RTI request.
 
It said it was "vexed with non response" from the CPIO to a number of its notices and thus found it a fit case to impose penalty.
 
Calling the CPIO's action "pathetic", the commissioner said in the order that "such a simple request for information has been dragged to the level of second appeal, building heaps of documents with multiple files".
 
The commission also slammed Delhi University for "spending huge amounts of money and consuming precious time of public servants", including the commission.
 
It also asked the "public authority", without defining it, to facilitate sufficient training to the entire staff, including the CPIO, in the matter of RTI law so that they do not reject applications in a routine manner without application of mind.
 
The commission recommended that officials be provided with the latest books on the RTI Act as well as classic text books on administrative law. It suggested they should also be given the books "Right to Know" by late professor S.P. Sathe and "Five-point Someone: What Not To Do At IIT" by Chetan Bhagat.
 
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Comments
TIHARwale
8 years ago
CPIO and her colleagues in Delhi University are dubious characters. In a reply to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali in September 2015, the DU claimed that they did not have records of past more that four decades and for obtaining the list of passed out students for the year 1978, the activist should approach the concerned Degree colleges affiliated to the Delhi University.

Based on this, Galgali has now filed an appeal in thematter following the recent developments by the DU which has dismissed the points raised by the AAP as common errors.

Galgali had filed a query with the DU on September 11, 2015, seeking detailed list of students who has passed out in the year 1978. In a reply, the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Delhi University Jay Chandra had informed Galgali that the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) and IT Officer (Planning cell) stated that the query pertains to records almost four decades old and hence department does not have the details. According to the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) the copies of the examination results are sent by the examinations department to the respective colleges, hence for seeking the information the applicant may approach the respective colleges.

“After the Delhi University made public the degree of the PM Narendra Modi, it has now become clear that the Delhi University had mislead me in its reply, as the issue of PM Modi's degree too pertained to year 1978 and it has made the details public, means that the DU has in its possession the details of all the students passed out in the year 1978. Hence, I have now filed the 1st appeal under the RTI Act to the Delhi University seeking the detailed list of all the passed out students of BA of the year 1978. Also in a letter addressed to Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi and Registrar Tarun Raj, I have expressed surprise over the double standards of the DU officials, demanding action against the officials who has misled me by not providing information and have also demanded that the University provides me with the detailed list of the passed out students of the year 1978.”

In a reply to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali in September 2015, the DU claimed that they did not have records of past more that four decades and for obtaining the list of passed out students for the year 1978, the activist should approach the concerned Degree colleges affiliated to the Delhi University.

Based on this, Galgali has now filed an appeal in thematter following the recent developments by the DU which has dismissed the points raised by the AAP as common errors.

Galgali had filed a query with the DU on September 11, 2015, seeking detailed list of students who has passed out in the year 1978. In a reply, the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Delhi University Jay Chandra had informed Galgali that the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) and IT Officer (Planning cell) stated that the query pertains to records almost four decades old and hence department does not have the details. According to the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) the copies of the examination results are sent by the examinations department to the respective colleges, hence for seeking the information the applicant may approach the respective colleges.

“After the Delhi University made public the degree of the PM Narendra Modi, it has now become clear that the Delhi University had mislead me in its reply, as the issue of PM Modi's degree too pertained to year 1978 and it has made the details public, means that the DU has in its possession the details of all the students passed out in the year 1978. Hence, I have now filed the 1st appeal under the RTI Act to the Delhi University seeking the detailed list of all the passed out students of BA of the year 1978. Also in a letter addressed to Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi and Registrar Tarun Raj, I have expressed surprise over the double standards of the DU officials, demanding action against the officials who has misled me by not providing information and have also demanded that the University provides me with the detailed list of the passed out students of the year 1978.”

CPIO and her colleagues in Delhi University are dubious characters. In a reply to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali in September 2015, the DU claimed that they did not have records of past more that four decades and for obtaining the list of passed out students for the year 1978, the activist should approach the concerned Degree colleges affiliated to the Delhi University.

Based on this, Galgali has now filed an appeal in thematter following the recent developments by the DU which has dismissed the points raised by the AAP as common errors.

Galgali had filed a query with the DU on September 11, 2015, seeking detailed list of students who has passed out in the year 1978. In a reply, the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Delhi University Jay Chandra had informed Galgali that the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) and IT Officer (Planning cell) stated that the query pertains to records almost four decades old and hence department does not have the details. According to the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) the copies of the examination results are sent by the examinations department to the respective colleges, hence for seeking the information the applicant may approach the respective colleges.

“After the Delhi University made public the degree of the PM Narendra Modi, it has now become clear that the Delhi University had mislead me in its reply, as the issue of PM Modi's degree too pertained to year 1978 and it has made the details public, means that the DU has in its possession the details of all the students passed out in the year 1978. Hence, I have now filed the 1st appeal under the RTI Act to the Delhi University seeking the detailed list of all the passed out students of BA of the year 1978. Also in a letter addressed to Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi and Registrar Tarun Raj, I have expressed surprise over the double standards of the DU officials, demanding action against the officials who has misled me by not providing information and have also demanded that the University provides me with the detailed list of the passed out students of the year 1978.”

In a reply to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali in September 2015, the DU claimed that they did not have records of past more that four decades and for obtaining the list of passed out students for the year 1978, the activist should approach the concerned Degree colleges affiliated to the Delhi University.

Based on this, Galgali has now filed an appeal in thematter following the recent developments by the DU which has dismissed the points raised by the AAP as common errors.

Galgali had filed a query with the DU on September 11, 2015, seeking detailed list of students who has passed out in the year 1978. In a reply, the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Delhi University Jay Chandra had informed Galgali that the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) and IT Officer (Planning cell) stated that the query pertains to records almost four decades old and hence department does not have the details. According to the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) the copies of the examination results are sent by the examinations department to the respective colleges, hence for seeking the information the applicant may approach the respective colleges.

“After the Delhi University made public the degree of the PM Narendra Modi, it has now become clear that the Delhi University had mislead me in its reply, as the issue of PM Modi's degree too pertained to year 1978 and it has made the details public, means that the DU has in its possession the details of all the students passed out in the year 1978. Hence, I have now filed the 1st appeal under the RTI Act to the Delhi University seeking the detailed list of all the passed out students of BA of the year 1978. Also in a letter addressed to Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi and Registrar Tarun Raj, I have expressed surprise over the double standards of the DU officials, demanding action against the officials who has misled me by not providing information and have also demanded that the University provides me with the detailed list of the passed out students of the year 1978.”

In a reply to an RTI query by activist Anil Galgali in September 2015, the DU claimed that they did not have records of past more that four decades and for obtaining the list of passed out students for the year 1978, the activist should approach the concerned Degree colleges affiliated to the Delhi University.

Based on this, Galgali has now filed an appeal in thematter following the recent developments by the DU which has dismissed the points raised by the AAP as common errors.

Galgali had filed a query with the DU on September 11, 2015, seeking detailed list of students who has passed out in the year 1978. In a reply, the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Delhi University Jay Chandra had informed Galgali that the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) and IT Officer (Planning cell) stated that the query pertains to records almost four decades old and hence department does not have the details. According to the Assistant Controller of Examinations (Results) the copies of the examination results are sent by the examinations department to the respective colleges, hence for seeking the information the applicant may approach the respective colleges.

“After the Delhi University made public the degree of the PM Narendra Modi, it has now become clear that the Delhi University had mislead me in its reply, as the issue of PM Modi's degree too pertained to year 1978 and it has made the details public, means that the DU has in its possession the details of all the students passed out in the year 1978. Hence, I have now filed the 1st appeal under the RTI Act to the Delhi University seeking the detailed list of all the passed out students of BA of the year 1978. Also in a letter addressed to Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi and Registrar Tarun Raj, I have expressed surprise over the double standards of the DU officials, demanding action against the officials who has misled me by not providing information and have also demanded that the University provides me with the detailed list of the passed out students of the year 1978.”

Maharashtra-based activist Anil Galgali had filed an RTI application in September 2015 asking for records of all students who graduated from DU in 1978, but the university claimed “it did not maintain three to four decade-old records”. “If the DU had not lied in their reply to Galgali, how have they dug out Modi’s degree and marksheets now? Either they were lying then or they are lying now,”. so CPIO is guided by dubious colleagues in DU
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