I am sure this issue is going to snow-ball into something serious in the coming weeks as indicated by the following news report--Ganpat CIC orders IIT to reinstate registrar
NEW DELHI: If you exceed your authority, we will exceed ours. This seems to be the tacit basis on which the Central Information Commission (
CIC), set up only to interpret the
RTI Act, has assumed the power to direct the reinstatement of the registrar general of IIT Delhi.
In an unprecedented order, information commissioner O P Kejariwal gave a two-day ultimatum on Thursday to the director of IIT Delhi, Surendra Prasad, to revoke the suspension of its registrar, Rajendra Singh. The provocation was Rajendra Singh’s complaint that IIT had suspended him for not paying a penalty of Rs 25,000 imposed on him, ironically, by
CIC itself for his failure to supply information to an
RTI applicant within the prescribed time. Since Rajendra Singh failed to pay the penalty, IIT ordered the recovery of that amount from his salary and made a remittance of Rs 25,000 to
CIC, in terms of its order of May 31.
Far from appreciating the trouble the director had evidently taken to comply with its order,
CIC is miffed that he went on to suspend Rajendra Singh for disobeying it. Condemning the director’s "autocratic attitude",
CIC said that it had empowered him only to recover the registrar’s salary and not take any other action "to deliberately harm his reputation." Without issuing a notice to him to explain his decision,
CIC said the director had "very obviously exceeded his authority" by suspending the registrar.
It also held that Prasad had "used the
RTI Act and the commission’s order to settle personal scores" with Rajendra Singh. In the process,
CIC committed at least two violations while acting on the complaint of somebody who had himself disobeyed its penalty order. l By passing strictures on the IIT director without hearing his side of the story,
CIC clearly transgressed the principle of natural justice. l By ordering the director to reinstate the registrar,
CIC exceeded its own powers which are limited to adjudicating complaints and appeals on access to information.
In fact, by entertaining Rajendra Singh’s complaint against his suspension,
CIC trespassed into the domain of the Central Administrative Tribunal. Not surprisingly, IIT administration is showing no signs of complying with
CIC’s order of reinstating Rajendra Singh by the stated deadline. The director is in fact out of town and is due to return only on Sunday. Acting director Bijendra Jain, when contacted, made a cryptic comment: "We have kept all our options open. I am however not in a position to divulge them to you at present." Rajendra Singh on his part declined to explain why he had not paid the penalty to
CIC.
Instead, he said that the director in any event had no power to suspend because
CIC’s order only talked of penalty. "I am grateful to
CIC for vindicating my position and ordering my reinstatement," Rajendra Singh told TOI. Much as the penalty defaulter has reason to be happy, the credibility of the
RTI’s appellate body has needlessly taken a beating.
CIC orders IIT to reinstate registrar-Delhi-Cities-The Times of India