http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5756270.cms
Commissioner (CIC) has asked the United India Insurance Company Ltd (UIICL) to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to a citizen in a Right To Information case. Moreover, the commissioner has also imposed a penalty of Rs 22,000 on an official for dereliction of duty. In his order dated March 23, information commissioner A N Tiwari ordered UIICL to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to A M Attar—who had filed an RTI query—for the “detriment suffered by him’’ and also slapped a fine of Rs 22,000 on a senior divisional manager in Mumbai. A UIICL official confirmed the order. “It would have been better if the applicant addressed his application to the regional office. However, the official held guilty should have replied to the applicant or forwarded the query to the regional office. We have already initiated steps as directed by the CIC; we feel that the official failed to respond because of the oversight,’’ he said. Mumbra resident Attar had opted for a household policy of UIICL in 2004. In 2007, the company and its agent were allegedly late in collecting Attar’s cheque for the policy’s premium from his home. A few days later, the UIICL returned the cheque, telling Attar that the policy had lapsed due to a delay in paying the premium. Attar told TOI, “When my letters failed to elicit any response, on September 13, 2007, I filed an RTI query with the division office-7, Mumbai. But there was no reply and I filed a first appeal with the appellate authority on October 16, 2007. The insurance firm again failed to answer.” On December 17, 2007, Attar filed a second appeal with the CIC. “The commission sought a reply from the respondents, who claimed to have never got any such application.” After a series of hearings, the commissioner said the senior divisional manager had got an RTI query on September 16, 2007. Though he had got the requisite information from the agent concerned on September 29, 2007, the information was forwarded to CPIO, regional office on Dec 27, 2007. Thus, there was a delay of 88 days on his part, the commissioner said. Ketan Modi, representing Attar, said, “The officials had deliberately suppressed the fact before the commission.” Anilkumar BVN
