FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) ON RTI (AS ON JANURARY 2012)

Q.1. What is Information?

Information is any material in any form. It includes records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form. It also includes information relating to any private body which can be accessed by the public authority under any law for the time being in force.

Q.2 What is a Public Authority?

A “public authority” is any authority or body or institution of self government established or constituted by or under the Constitution; or by any other law made by the Parliament or a State Legislature; or by notification issued or order made by the Central Government or a State Government. The bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Central Government or a State Government and non-Government organisations substantially financed by the Central Government or a State Government also fall within the definition of public authority. The financing of the body or the NGO by the Government may be direct or indirect.

Q.3 What is a Public Information Officer?

Public authorities have designated some of its officers as Public Information Officer. They are responsible to give information to a person who seeks information under the RTI Act.

Q.4 What is an Assistant Public Information Officer?

These are the officers at sub-divisional level to whom a person can give his RTI application or appeal. These officers send the application or appeal to the Public Information Officer of the public authority or the concerned appellate authority. An Assistant Public Information Officer is not responsible to supply the information. The Assistant Public Information Officers appointed by the Department of Posts in various post offices are working as Assistant Public 2 Information Officers for all the public authorities under the Government of India.

Q.5. What is the Fee for Seeking Information from Central Government Public Authorities?

A person who desires to seek some information from a Central Government Public Authority is required to send, along with the application, a demand draft or a banker’s cheque or an Indian Postal Order of Rs.10/- (Rupees ten), payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority as fee prescribed for seeking information. The payment of fee can also be made by way of cash to the Accounts Officer of the public authority or to the Assistant Public Information Officer against proper receipt. However, the RTI Fee and the mode of payment may vary as under Section 27 and Section 28, of the RTI Act, 2005 the appropriate Government and the competent authority, respectively, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Q.6. What is the Fee for the BPL applicant for Seeking Information?

If the applicant belongs to below poverty line (BPL) category, he is not required to pay any fee. However, he should submit a proof in support of his claim to belong to the below poverty line.

Q.7. Is there any specific Format of Application?

There is no prescribed format of application for seeking information. The application can be made on plain paper. The application should, however, have the name and complete postal address of the applicant.

Q.8. Is it required to give any reason for seeking information?

The information seeker is not required to give reasons for seeking information.

Q.9. Is there any provision for exemption from Disclosure of Information?

Sub-section (1) of section 8 and section 9 of the Act enumerate the types of information which is exempt from disclosure. Sub-section (2) of section 8, however, provides that information exempted under sub-section 3 (1) or exempted under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 can be disclosed if public interest in disclosure overweighs the harm to the protected interest.

Q.10. Is there any assistance available to the Applicant for filing RTI application?

If a person is unable to make a request in writing, he may seek the help of the Public Information Officer to write his application and the Public Information Officer should render him reasonable assistance. Where a decision is taken to give access to a sensorily disabled person to any document, the Public Information Officer, shall provide such assistance to the person as may be appropriate for inspection.

Q.11. What is the Time Period for Supply of Information?

In normal course, information to an applicant shall be supplied within 30 days from the receipt of application by the public authority. If information sought concerns the life or liberty of a person, it shall be supplied within 48 hours. In case the application is sent through the Assistant Public Information Officer or it is sent to a wrong public authority, five days shall be added to the period of thirty days or 48 hours, as the case may be.

Q.12. Is there any provision of Appeal under the RTI Act?

If an applicant is not supplied information within the prescribed time of thirty days or 48 hours, as the case may be, or is not satisfied with the information furnished to him, he may prefer an appeal to the first appellate authority who is an officer senior in rank to the Public Information Officer. Such an appeal, should be filed within a period of thirty days from the date on which the limit of 30 days of supply of information is expired or from the date on which the information or decision of the Public Information Officer is received. The appellate authority of the public authority shall dispose of the appeal within a period of thirty days or in exceptional cases within 45 days of the receipt of the appeal.

Q.13. Is there any scope for second appeal under the RTI Act?

If the first appellate authority fails to pass an order on the appeal within the prescribed period or if the appellant is not satisfied with the order of the first appellate authority, he may prefer a second appeal with the Central Information Commission within ninety days from the date on which the decision should have been made by the first appellate authority or was actually received by the appellant.

Q.14. Whether Complaints can be made under this Act? If yes, under what conditions?

If any person is unable to submit a request to a Public Information Officer either by reason that such an officer has not been appointed by the concerned public authority; or the Assistant Public Information Officer has refused to accept his or her application or appeal for forwarding the same to the Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be; or he has been refused access to any information requested by him under the RTI Act; or he has not been given a response to a request for information within the time limit specified in the Act; or he has been required to pay an amount of fee which he considers unreasonable; or he believes that he has been given incomplete, misleading or false information, he can make a complaint to the Information Commission.

Q.15. What is Third Party Information?

Third party in relation to the Act means a person other than the citizen who has made request for information. The definition of third party includes a public authority other than the public authority to whom the request has been made.

Q.16. What is the Method of Seeking Information?

A citizen who desires to obtain any information under the Act, should make an application to the Public Information Officer of the concerned public authority in writing in English or Hindi or in the official language of the area in which the application is made. The application should be precise and specific. He should make payment of application fee at the time of submitting the application as prescribed in the Fee Rules.

Q.17. Is there any organization(s) exempt from providing information under RTI Act?

Yes, certain intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, are exempted from providing information excepting the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations.

Source : DOPT

WAITING FOR THE POSTMAN TO RING TWICE

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3821884.ece

The Sunday Story The Department of Posts is hard at work on a turnaround plan. But is the pace and mode of change enough? Will it succeed anytime soon in re-engineering services to become competitive and increase revenues?

India has the largest postal network in the world. However, in recent years, growing access to inexpensive telephone systems, and options such as e-mail, have reduced popular dependence on the system — and sent the Department of Posts into the red.

Total volumes, both domestic and international, of letters in physical form and parcels, have grown manifold. But much of it has gone to private operators. The DoP’s market share has fallen significantly.

Ranging from exploiting the vast potential of the post office network in rural areas to using information technology and changing the service and product profile, many measures have been adopted to make a turnaround and to bring it out of the red. Indeed, the results have started showing: in the last fiscal, the DoP recorded the sharpest fall in losses in the last decade. Its revenue surged by 13.62 per cent to Rs. 7,910.51 crore, while the expenditure stood at Rs. 13,705.4 crore. Still, the deficit was Rs. 5,794.89 crore.

The government is seeking to achieve the turnaround through a multi-pronged approach. The seven-fold growth in the number of post offices from 23,344 at the time of Independence to 1,54,866 (as on March 31, 2011) is proving to be an asset.

Most of these post offices, 1,39,040 of them (89.78 per cent), are in rural areas, with the remaining 15,826 in urban areas. The network is being used to increase the reach of various social and financial schemes.

The expansion, especially in rural areas, has also been brought about by opening part-time extra-departmental post offices. Post offices now offer mail, retailing, savings bank, life insurance and remittance services, in addition to delivery of social security benefits such as pensions and wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. As many as 5.59 crore MGNREGS accounts were opened in post offices, and wages amounting to Rs. 7,860 crore was disbursed to beneficiaries during 2011-12 through 98,491 post offices.

On an average, a post office in India serves an area of 21.23 sq km, and a population of 7,814 people. The 5.6 lakh-strong workforce enjoys a special bond with the masses, especially in the interiors.

Financial models are being altered to lower operational costs. In urban areas, franchisee outlets are being opened where it is not possible to open a regular post office.

The DoP launched Project Arrow “to achieve a big increase in both customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction with India Post.” The project seeks to cover 2,500 post offices by March 2012 and 7,500 post offices during the 12th Plan period. It envisages a pan-India network that is flexible enough to support future applications that will ensure greater accountability and productivity through the use of technology and improve working conditions.

The Mail Lighthouse Project was the second major initiative to be undertaken. It seeks to optimise the mail network. The three-year programme was launched in 2010 to optimise the postal network from collection to delivery; standardise processes with focus on significant quality improvement and reduction in network complexity; and to establish a performance culture using key performance indicators and regular reviews. It also aimed to modernise “the look and feel’’ of the postal services and infrastructure.

To streamline its bread-and-butter area of mail operations and improve the quality of mail-related services, the Mail Network Optimisation Project was initiated in March 2010. This involves the standardisation of processes and development of a performance monitoring system.

The operational network for Speed Post and other categories of mail has been restructured.

The DoP intends to computerise all departmental post offices, mail offices, administrative and other offices and establishments, under its Information Technology Modernisation Programme. This also envisages provision of connectivity through Rural ICT solutions to enable electronic networking of nearly 1,29,500 extra-departmental branch post offices.

With 99.26 per cent of the 25,154 departmental post offices having been computerised by March 31, 2012, the DoP is looking to capitalise on this by making post offices the focal point of delivery of social security schemes.

Its revenue share falling in the core area of mail distribution due to the proliferation of courier companies that took away a large part of the business, and the arrival of cheaper and faster communication options of phones and e-mails that have reduced dependence on paper-based communication, the DoP has also taken to the use of technology to face the challenges.

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal wants the DoP to address the twin challenges of technological modernisation and diversification. He also observed that while GIS mapping, tracking of mails, automation of sorting services and standardisation of parcels is being worked upon, there is a need to re-engineer the postal service to keep it competitive and increase its sources of revenues. The DoP is using technology to reach out to people, Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Information and Communications, asserts.

The DoP’s road map for the 12th Plan period indicates that the transformation process for making India Post a pivotal player in the area of communications, logistic and governance has started. But the challenge is to make the best of the enviable network of post offices that has been built up and utilise the personnel who know their turf well and who often have a special bond with the people they serve.

But it is bound to be a long haul, and the challenges before the government are quite steep.

Keywords: Department of Posts, postman, Department of Posts, DoP market share, MGNREGS accounts

COMPUTERS AND INTERNET FACILITIES IN POST OFFICES

           As on date, 24,969 Departmental Post Offices have been computerised. Out of 24,969 computerised Departmental Post Offices 22,177 Post offices are having internet connectivity.

          In Rajasthan Circle, 1320 Departmental Post Offices have been computerized and out of these 1320 computerized Post offices 1299 have internet facility.

         The Government has approved IT Modernization Project of Department of Posts. It involves computerization and networking of all Post Offices through network integrator of the project including Branch Post Offices in the rural area. The roll out of the Project is expected in the year 2013-14 subject to finalization of the Request for Proposal (RFP) for Rural Hardware, timely implementation of the project and availability of funds.

         This was stated by Shri Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in response to a written question in Rajya Sabha today.

BK/AT

(Release ID :86707)(PIB 24 Aug-2012)

CORRUPTION CASES AGAINST TOP OFFICIALS

As per the information provided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), it has registered 97 cases [71 Regular Cases (RCs) and 26 Preliminary Enquiries (PEs)] involving 129 officers of the rank of Joint Secretary and above during the last 3 years i.e. 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012 (upto 31.7.2012). 15 officers are involved in more than one case.

As on 31.07.2012, out of the aforesaid 71 RCs, Charge sheets have been filed in 30 cases against 31 officers of the rank of Joint Secretary and above.

As on 31.7.2012 sanctions for prosecution are pending in 14 CBI cases with respective Central Ministries/Departments against 14 officers of the rank of Joint Secretary & above. 02 officers are common in 02 cases each.

Further, permission under section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, for conducting enquiry/investigation, are pending in respect of 23 officers of the rank of Joint Secretary and above.

The Supreme Court of India, vide its judgment dated 18th December, 1997 in the case of Vineet Narain Vs. Union of India, directed that “time limit of three months for grant of sanction for prosecution must be strictly adhered to. However, additional time of one month may be allowed where consultation is required with the Attorney General (AG) or any Law Officer in the AG’s office”.

It is sometime not possible to adhere to this time-limit. The delay which occurs in the sanctioning of prosecution is mostly on account of detailed scrutiny and analysis of voluminous case records and evidence, consultation with Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), State Governments and other agencies, and sometimes non-availability of relevant documentary evidence.

However, in order to check delays in grant of sanction for prosecution, the Department of Personnel & Training has issued guidelines vide its OM No.399/33/2006-AVD-III dated 6th November, 2006 followed by another OM dated 20th December, 2006, providing for a definite time frame at each stage for handling of requests from CBI for prosecution of public servants.

The Group of Ministers on tackling corruption, in its First Report, had also given certain recommendations for speedy disposal of sanction of prosecution cases, which included-taking decision on such cases within 3 months; monitoring of such cases at the level of Secretary of the Ministry/ Department and submission of report to the Cabinet Secretary; and in cases of refusal to accord sanction, submission of a report to the next higher authority within 7 days for information (where competent authority is Minister such report is to be submitted to the Prime Minister). The said recommendation of the GoM has been accepted by Government and instructions have been issued by the Government on 03.05.2012.

As regards permission under section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the Group of Ministers on tackling corruption in its First Report has recommended that the competent authority shall decide the matter within three months with speaking orders and in the event a decision is taken to refuse permission the reasons thereof shall be submitted to the next higher authority within one week for information (where competent authority is Minister, such report is to be submitted to the Prime Minister). This recommendation was accepted by the Government and instructions issued on 26.09.2011.

This was stated by Shri V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and Prime Minister Office in written reply to a question by Sh. Shadi Lal Batra in the Rajya Sabha today.

Source : PIB, August 23, 201

IMPLEMENTATION OF RESERVATION POLICY

All establishments of the Government of India are implementing the policy of reservation in services in all Groups including Group ‘B’ and ‘C’.

Number of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Class (OBC) and General category candidates appointed by direct recruitment in Group ‘B’ and ‘C’ posts during the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 is given in the following table:

	Group B			Group C
	2008	2009	2010	2008	2009	2010
SC	340	566	602	8369	10851	9895
ST	112	289	286	4848	6750	6832
OBC	367	1246	1117	13706	20405	17963
General	682	2060	2495	20725	58614	37921
	1501	4161	4500	47648	96620	72611

This was stated by Shri V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and Prime Minister Office in written reply to a question by Sh. Shadi Lal Batra in the Rajya Sabha on 23.08.2012

Source: Press Information Bureau

PROVIDING SOCIAL SECURITY TO CONTRACTUAL LABOUR

                 The Contract Labour are engaged in the industrial sector  by the Government and Private establishments  as per their terms of contract and requirement and   no centralized data is maintained. However, the estimated number of contract labour  engaged by licenced contractors  in central sphere including the industrial sector in  the last three years is as under:

Year	No. of contract labour covered by such licences
2009-10	13.73lakhs
2010-11	14.89 lakhs
2011-12*	13.07 lakhs

* Provisional

                Engagement of  contract labourers is regulated under   the Contract  Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act,  As far as the security  in term of  wages and other service conditions is concerned,  as per the  Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Central Rules, 1971 , the wages of the contract labour shall not be less than the rates prescribed under  Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and in cases where  the contract worker perform  the same or similar kind of work as the workmen directly employed  by the principal employer of the establishment, the wage rates, holidays , hours of work and other conditions of service  shall be the same as applicable to the workmen directly employed by the principal employer doing the same or similar kind of work.    The liability to ensure payment of wages and other benefits is primarily that of the contractor and, in case of default, that of the principal employer. 

                 In the central sphere, the Complaints are received in the field offices of Chief Labour Commissioner(Central) Organization under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970, Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and by   other laws applicable on contract labour which are investigated and action is taken. Social security aspects of contract workers under Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952 and Employees State Insurance Act 1948 are enforced by the Employees Provident Fund organization and Employees State Insurance Corporation respectively provided the establishments in which outsourced workers are working are covered under the said Acts.  Central Government hasalso prohibited employment of contract labour in various establishments in central sphere through 84 Notifications issued from time to time under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970. To safeguard the interests of the contract labour further in term of wages and social security, a proposal to amend the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 is under consideration of the Government.

                The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge gave this information in a written reply  in  Rajya Sabha today.

Source : PIB, August 22, 2012

CLARIFICATION ON THE ADMISSIBILITY OF HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE (HRA) TO THE CENTRAL GOVT. EMPLOYEES POSTED AT GREATER NOIDA-REG.{CLICK LINK BELOW FOR DETAILS){http://www.indiapost.gov.in/DOP/Pdf/Circulars/4-04-2011-PAP_13-08-2012.pdf}

RE-SCHEDULE OF IPO EXAM

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

                                               

           IPO EXAMINATION 2012

(MOST URGENT)

CONDUCTING OF LIMITED DEPARTMENTAL COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR PROMOTION TO THE CADRE OF INSPECTOR POSTS (66.66%) DEPARTMENTAL QUOTA FOR THE YEAR 2012. {RE-SCHEDULED}

  

Sub: Conducting of Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for promotion to the cadre of Inspector Posts (66.66%) Departmental quota for the year, 2012.

D.G. Posts No. A-34012/07/2012-DE Dated 22^nd August, 2012.

I am directed to invite kind attention to this office letter No. dated 07.06.2012 wherein a notification was issued for Conducting of Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for promotion to the cadre of Inspector Posts for the year 2012 on 8^th & 9^th September 2012.

2.         The Competent Authority has now ordered to re-schedule and hold the above examination on 15^th & 16^th September, 2012 to the following timings:

Date of examination	Paper Nos.	Time
15th September,2012	Paper-I	10.00 A.M. to 01.00 P.M.
15th September,2012	Paper-II	02.00 P.M. to 05.00 P.M.
16th September,2012	Paper-III	10.00 A.M. to 01.00 P.M.
16th September,2012	Paper-IV	02.00 P.M. to 05.00 P.M

3.         This may be circulated to all concerned. There will be no change in other terms and conditions, issued in this office letter of even no. dated 07.06.2012.

4.         This issues with the approval of Competent Authority.

                                                                        Sd/-

(K. Rameswara Rao)

Assistant Director General(DE)

AIPEU GDS (NFPE) MARCHING AHEAD.

Madhya Pradesh Damoh Branch and Rewa Divisional Branch formed. Circle Conference of MP Circle on 23^rd September in Sagar Division. Karnataka Circle level Study Camp conducted in HASSAN Division on 19^th August-2012. Com. M. Krishnan Secretary General, NFPE inaugurated. Bihar Madhubani Divisional Branch formed. Circle level Committees already formed in Andhra, UP, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Karnataka. Other Circle conventions will be completed before December, 2012: M. Krishnan Secretary General NFPE.

 OVER  RS. 750 CR LYING IN INACTIVE POST OFFICE SAVING  ACCOUNTS : GOVERNMENT.

         The government today said around Rs 752 crore is lying as unclaimed deposits in more than 2.49 crore inactive savings accounts in post offices.

        "Rs 752,44,57,414.03 is the amount lying in all inactive (silent) accounts as on March 31, 2011 in 2,49,59,446 accounts," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

        West Bengal led the tally of unclaimed deposits with over Rs 107 crore lying in 20.16 lakh accounts, followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 105.87 crore in 62.72 lakh accounts) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 68.61 crore in 21.74 lakh accounts).

        "The depositor of such account can activate the account at any time by transaction. Notices are issued every year to the account holder of such accounts who are not maintaining minimum balance. Special drives are launched to re-activate such accounts by issuing notices and giving information through electronic media," Sibal said.

       Responding to another query, Sibal said 79,604 complaints for non-delivery of Registered Letters, 41,794 for Speed Post and 8,257 related to Parcels were received in the April-June, 2012 period.

       "Of these, 73,077 complaints for registered post, 38,154 for Speed Post and 6,147 for Parcels were addressed. As on June 30, 2012, 6,527 complaint cases of Registered Letters, 3,640 cases of Speed Post and 2,110 cases of Parcels are pending," Sibal said.

       The major reason for the pendency are involvement of more than one postal circle/state in processing the complaints, time taken in making detailed inquiry or investigation and non-submission of the required details by the complainant in some cases, he added.

       The Minister added that during 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12, departmental action has been initiated in 1,287 cases against postal employees and penalties have been imposed in 1,157 cases for non-delivery and loss of articles etc.

       In a separate reply, Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said the Department of Posts' (DoP) volume as well as revenue from speed post has continuously increased over the years.

        "The volume of Speed Post has increased from 21.14 crore in 2008-09 to 24.08 crore in 2009-10, 27.45 crore in 2010-11 to 39.19 crore in 2011-12," Pilot said.

        Revenues from speed posts have also grown from Rs 515 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 614 crore in 2009-10, Rs 749 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 900 crore in 2011-12, he added.

Source : The Economic Times, August 22, 2012

CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS EMPLOYEE’S PENSION FUND

         An amount of Rs. 14,767.47 crore (as per unaudited Balance Sheet of 2011-12) has been received as contribution in Employees’ Pension Fund for the financial year ending on 31.3.2012.

        An amount of Rs. 1,62,980.04 crore is balance in Employees’ Pension Fund Contribution Account as on 31.3.2012.

        The whole amount of Employees’ Pension Fund stands invested. Rs. 57,087.01 crores is invested in Public Account and balance is invested in securities.

        As per the unaudited Balance Sheet of the year 2011-12, total interest income of the investment of Employees Pension Fund for the year ended March 2012 is Rs.13,315.79 crore. The average rate of interest on Public Account is 8.5% and on investment in securities is 8.27%.

        The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge gave this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

Source : PIB, August 22, 2012

REGULATION OF COURIER COMPANIES

The performance of private courier companies has not been the subject of any study by the Department of Posts.

Department of Posts does not have any regulatory and monitoring mechanism for private courier companies and their services.

This was stated by Shri Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in response to a written question in Lok Sabha today.

Source