Non-Imposition of Penalty under RTI Act, 2005

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

06-May-2015 15:26 IST

Under Section 20(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Information Commission, at the time of deciding any complaint, shall impose a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees each day till application is received or information is furnished, with the total amount of such penalty not exceeding twenty five thousand rupees, if it is of the opinion that the Public Information Officer, (a) has refused to receive an application for information without any reasonable cause; or (b) has not furnished information within the time specified; or (c) malafidely denied the request for information; or (d) knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information; or (e) destroyed information which was the subject of the request; or (f) obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information.

In addition to the above, under Section 20(2), the Information Commission may also recommend for disciplinary action against such Public Information Officer.

During 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, the Central Information Commission imposed penalty on Central Public Information Officers in 87 and 138 cases respectively. Penalty has not been recovered in 09 cases for the year 2012-2013 and in 51 cases for the year 2013-2014.

The Central Information Commission has reminded the concerned Public Authorities to recover the penalty amount from the salary of the penalized officers and remit the same to the Commission.

The data on penalty imposed by State Information Commissions is available in respective State Information Commissions.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Dushyant Chautala and Shri P.R.Sundaram in the Lok Sabha today.