F. NO. 411612018-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel and Training)

North Block, New Delhi
Dated: 12th December, 2019

Subject: Appointment of Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.

Under the Right to Information Act 2005, the Government of India has constituted the Central Information Commission, which is located in New Delhi. The powers and functions of the Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission are as per the RTI Act, 2005.

Latest DoPT Orders 2019

It is proposed to appoint four Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission.

The Act provides that the Information Commissioner-

• shall be a person of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass-media or administration and governance.
• shall not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union Territory, as the case may be, or hold any other office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession. It is clarified that cessation/termination of holding of office of profit, pursuing any profession or carrying any business is a condition precedent to the appointment of a person as Information Commissioner.

4. Persons who have attained the age of 65 years shall not be eligible for appointment.

5. The salary, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the Information Commissioners shall be as per Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission, State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission) Rules, 2019.

6. Persons fulfilling the criteria and interested for appointment to the post of Information Commissioner may send their particulars in the enclosed proforma, by post, to Under Secretary (IR-II), Room No. 215 A/II, Department of Personnel and Training, North Block, New Delhi or through e-mail to usrti-dopt©nic.in so as to reach before 5:00 PM on 3d January, 2020. Persons serving under the State/ Central Government or any other Organization, should send their particulars through proper channel (administrative Ministry/ Department of State-UT/ Central Government or the Controlling Office respectively).

(Sanjay Kumar)
Under Secretary (IR-II)

Note:

(i) RTI Act, 2005 and Rules thereunder may be referred to by intending applicants for general familiarization, as could be appropriate.

(ii) Those who had applied for the post of Information Commissioner in response to the earlier advertisement dated 04.01 .2019 are requested to communicate in writing their willingness to be considered for the post of Information Commissioner under the present terms and conditions of service, along with an updated bio-data, if required, so as to reach Under Secretary (IR-II) by post or through e-mail before 5:00 PM on 3 January, 2020.

Source: DoPT

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DoPT Orders 2019

MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
(Department of Personnel and Training)

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 24th October, 2019

G.S.R. 810(E).– In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (ca) and (cb) of sub-section (2) of section 27 of Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely:-

CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY

Short title and commencement.- (1) These rules may be called The Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chief Information Commissioner,
Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission, State Chief Information Commissioner and State Information Commissioners in the State Information Commission) Rules, 2019.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

Get More: Latest DoPT Orders 2019

CHAPTER II

2. Definitions.- (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, –

(a) “Act” means the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005);
(b) “Central Information Commission” shall have the same meaning assigned to it under clause (b) of section 2 of the Act ;
(c) “Chief Information Commissioner” and “Information Commissioner” shall have the same meaning assigned to it under clause (d) of section 2 of the Act;
(d) “State Chief Information Commissioner” and “State Information Commissioner” shall have the same meaning assigned to it under clause (l) of section 2 of the Act;
(e) “State Information Commission” shall have the same meaning assigned to it under clause (k) of section 2 of the Act.
(2) The words and expressions used and not defined under these rules, but defined in the Act shall have the same meaning as respectively assigned to them in the Act.

CHAPTER III

TERM OF OFFICE, SALARIES, ALLOWANCES AND OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION COMMISSIONER AND INFORMATION COMMISSIONER IN THE CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION

3. Term of office.- The Chief Information Commissioner, or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall hold office for a period of three years from the date on which he enters upon his office.

4. Retirement from parent service on appointment.- The Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, who on the date of his appointment to the Commission, was in the service of the Central or a State Government, shall be deemed to have retired from such service with effect from the date of his appointment as Chief Information Commissioner or an Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.

5. Pay.- (1) The Chief Information Commissioner shall receive a pay of Rs. 2,50,000 (Rupees two lakh and fifty thousand)(fixed) per mensem.
(2) An Information Commissioner shall receive a pay of Rs. 2,25,000 (Rupees two lakh and twenty five thousand) (fixed) per mensem.
(3) In case the Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, at the time of his appointment is, in receipt of any pension, the pay of such Chief Information Commissioner or
Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be reduced by the amount of that pension including any portion of pension which was commuted and pension equivalent of other forms of retirement benefits
excluding pension equivalent of retirement gratuity;
(4) In case the Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, at the time of his appointment, is in receipt of retirement benefits in respect of any previous service rendered in
Corporation established by or under any Central Act or State Act or a Government company owned or controlled by the Central Government or the State Government, his pay in respect of the service as the Chief
Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be reduced by the amount of pension equivalent to the retirement benefits.

6. Dearness Allowance. – The Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be entitled to draw dearness allowance at the rate admissible to an officer holding a post
carrying the same pay in the Central Government, as revised from time to time.

7. Leave.- (1) The Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be entitled to rights of leave as per admissibility to an officer holding a post carrying the same pay in the
Central Government, as revised from time to time.
(2) In case the Chief Information Commissioner, the competent authority to sanction the leave shall be the President of India and in case of the Information Commissioners, the Chief Information Commissioner shall
be the competent authority.

8. Cash Payment in lieu of unutilised Earned Leave.- The Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be entitled to encashment of fifty per cent. of earned leave to his credit at the time of completion of tenure:

Provided that for a Chief Information Commissioner or an Information Commissioner, as the case may be, who had retired from the service of the Central or a State Government prior to appointment as a Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner, as the case may be, the aggregate period for which the encashment of unutilised earned leave shall be entitled shall be subject to a maximum period as per admissibility to an officer holding a post carrying the same pay in the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, as revised from time to time.

9. Medical Facilities.- The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be entitled to medical treatment and Hospital facilities as provided in the Central Government Health Scheme and at places where the Central Government Health Scheme is not in operation, the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner shall be entitled to medical facilities as provided in the Central Service (Medical Attendance) Rules, 1944.

10. Accommodation.- (1) The Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be eligible subject to availability, to the use of official residence from the general pool accommodation of the type as admissible to an officer holding a post carrying the same pay in the Central Government on the payment of the license fee at the rates prescribed by Central Government from time to time.
(2) Where Chief Information Commissioner or an Information Commissioner is not provided with or does not avail himself of the general pool accommodation referred to in sub-rule (1), he may be paid House Rent Allowance at the rate admissible to an officer holding a post carrying the same pay in the Central Government.

11. Leave Travel Concession, Travelling Allowance, Daily Allowance.- The Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, as the case may be, shall be entitled to leave travel concession, travelling allowance and daily allowance as admissible to an officer holding a post carrying the same pay in the Central Government as far as may be, apply to the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioner, as the case may be.

Source: DoPT

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F. NO. 4/16/2018-IR
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel and Training)

North Block,, New Delhi
Dated: 4th January, 2019

Subject: Appointment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission.

Under the Right to Information Act 2005, the Government of India has constituted the Central Information Commission which is located in New Delhi. The powers and functions of the Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission are as per the RTI Act, 2005.

2. It is proposed to appoint four Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission.

3. The Act provides that the Information Commissioner: –

(i) shall be a person of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass-media or administration and governance.

(ii) shall not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union Territory, as the case may be, or hold any other office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession. It is clarified that cessation/termination of holding of office of profit, pursuing any profession or carrying any business is a condition precedent to the appointment of a person as Information Commissioner.

4. Persons who have attained the age of 65 years shall not be eligible for appointment.

5. The salary, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the Information Commissioner shall be as may be specified at the time of appointment of the selected candidate.

6. Persons fulfilling the criteria and interested for appointment to the post of Information Commissioner may send their particulars in the enclosed proforma only, by post, to Under Secretary (Rh), Department of Personnel and Training, North Block, New Delhi or through e-mail to usrti-dopt@nic.inso as to reach latest upto 25th January, 2019. Persons, who are serving under the State/Central Government or any other Organization, should send their particulars through proper channel (administrative Ministry/Department/State/UTs) only before the due date.

(Sanjay Kjmar)
Under Secretary (RTI)
Tel.2379 2759

Note: RTI Act, 2005 and Rules there under may be referred to by intending applicants for general familiarization, as could be appropriate.

Download the Proforma for sending particulars for consideration for the post of Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission

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No data is centrally maintained either by Government or Central Information Commission (CIC) in respect of cases wherein the information under RTI Act has not been provided to the applicants.

CIC adjudicates the second appeals and complaints received in the Commission. The Right to Information Act, 2005 provides for imposition of penalty by CIC against the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), in pursuance of section 20 of the RTI Act. As per the information furnished by CIC, the amount of penalty imposed on such CPIOs for the last three years is as under:

Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen’s request for information in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority.

Review of the implementation of the provisions of RTI Act is an ongoing process. There have been constant efforts on part of the Government to streamline and strengthen the existing mechanisms for successful and effective implementation of the RTI Act.

Government has taken several steps to strengthen the regime of RTI Act, which inter-alia include the following:

i. RTI Online Portal (https://rtionline.gov.in) was launched in August, 2013 by D/o Personnel and Training. As on 17.03.2017, 1840 Central Public Authorities have been aligned to it making it convenient for citizens to file RTI requests and First Appeals through on-line.

ii. The Government has conducted training and capacity building programs for Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities through State Government Training Institutes for effective implementation of the RTI Act.

iii. Ministries/Departments and other Public Authorities are proactively working towards suo-motu disclosure and more information is put on their websites so as to reduce the need for filing RTI applications.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of 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 Raju Shetty in the Lok Sabha today.

PIB

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New Delhi: Wives of government servants have a “right” to know salary particulars of their husbands and these details should also be made public by their offices as mandated under suo-moto disclosure clause of the RTI Act, the Central information Commission has held.

Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu said every spouse has a right to information about the salary particulars of the other especially for the purpose of maintenance.

“More so, wife has a right to know the salary particulars of the husband, who is an employee of the public authority,” he said.

The commissioner further said that the details about a government employee’s salary is no third party information and these have to be voluntarily disclosed under Section 4(1)(b)(x) of the RTI Act.

He said the salary paid to the public authority is sourced from the tax paid by the people in general and it has to be disclosed mandatorily under the RTI section.

“The information about the salary of employee or an officer of the same public authority cannot be considered as a third party information… Public authorities cannot reject such RTI applications about salary under the pretext of the third party information,” he held.

Acharyulu warned the Home Department of Delhi government that such denial of information will be wrongful and could incur penalty. The warning was in context of an application filed by Jyoti Seherawat seeking salary slip of her husband who is employed at the Home (General) department.

The information was denied as her husband gave in written to the department that such an information should not be provided to anyone.

Source : PTI

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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

02-August-2013 14:41 IST

The Union Cabinet has approved introduction of a Bill in the coming session of the Parliament to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005, to exclude the political parties from the definition of Public authority for the purpose of the Act.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) in its decision dated 03.06.2013, has held that the political parties, namely, AICC/INC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, and BSP are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. While deciding that the said political parties are public authorities, the CIC has relied mainly on the grounds that there is substantial (indirect) financing of political parties by the Central Government and they perform public duty.

The political parties are registered with the Election Commission under the provisions of section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Under this section any small group of persons, if they so desire, can be registered as a political party by making a simple declaration under sub-section (5) of section 29A.

With reference to the political parties, detailed provisions exist in the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which provides for dissemination of information relating to political parties, candidates and donations. The said Act, inter alia, provides for –

•    Registration with the Election Commission of associations and bodies as political parties (section 29A)
•    Political parties entitled to accept contribution (section 29B)
•    Declaration of donation received by the political parties (section 29C)
•    Declaration of assets and liabilities (section 75A)
•    Account of election expenses and maximum thereof (section 77)
•    Lodging of account with the district election officer (section 78)
•    Penalty for filing false affidavit etc. (section 125A)

The above provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 indicate that there are sufficient provisions in the Act to deal with each and every aspect of financing, its declaration and punishment for filing false affidavit and all such information is made available to the public through the website of the Election Commission.

Under section 13A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the political parties claiming exemption from tax are required to file their return of income before the due date before the tax authorities along with audited accounts; and form 24A prescribed under section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 read with Rule 85B of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 declaring the list of persons making donations to the political parties exceeding 20,000/- rupees.

As per section 138 of the Income-tax Act, any information with the Income-tax Department would be ordinarily held confidential, but can be made public, if in the judgment of the Commissioner of Income-tax, it serves public purpose.

Under section 10A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, for failure to lodge the account of election expenses as per the requirement of law, the defaulting candidate may be disqualified by the Election Commission for three years from the date of the order of disqualification.

Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, provides that each political party shall submit report to the Election Commission (before filing its income-tax return) regarding all contributions in excess of 20000/- rupees received by it in a financial year and failure to submit this report will deprive them of the tax benefit. Further, the candidates are required to file affidavit along with their nomination papers giving the annual income of the candidate and filing of false affidavit attract punishment for furnishing wrong information.
The RTI Act was enacted to provide for an effective framework for effectuating the right of information recognised under Article 19 of the Constitution. The RTI Act was enacted to ensure greater and more effective access to information by making the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 more progressive, participatory and meaningful.

The definition of public authority given in clause (h) of section 2 of the RTI Act is well defined to include only such authority or body constituted by or under the Constitution or by any law made by Parliament which is substantially financed directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government. The political parties do not fall within the parameters of the definition of public authority given in the RTI Act, as they are only registered and recognised under the RP Act, 1951.

Source : PIB News

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Department of Personnel and Training issued notification on the subject of ‘Recruitment Rules’ for the post of Registrar in the Central Information Commission on 20.6.2013 as follows…

MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
(Department of Personnel and Training)

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 20th June, 2013

G.S.R. 387(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (d) of sub-section (2) of section 27 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. (22 of 2005), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules regulating the method of recruitment to the post of Registrar in the Central Information Commission, namely :

1. Short title and commencement. –

(1)These rules may be called the Central Information Commission:[Registrar] Recruitment Rules, 2013.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Number of post, classification and Pay Band and Grade Pay or scale of pay. – The number of the said post, its classification and the Pay Band and Grade Pay or scale of pay attached there to shall be as specified in columns (2) to (4) of the Schedule annexed to these rules.

3. Method of recruitment, age limit, qualification, etc., – The method of recruitment, age limit, qualification and other matters relating to the said post shall be as specified in columns (5) to (13)of the said Schedule annexed to these rules.

4. Disqualification – No person.-

(a) who has entered into or contracted a marriage with a person having a spouse living, or

(b) who, having a spouse living, has entered into or contracted a marriage with any person, shall be eligible for appointment to the said post :

Provided that the Central Government may, if, satisfied that such marriage is permissible under the personal law applicable to such person and the other party to the marriage and that there are other grounds for so doing, exempt any person from the operation of this rule.

5. Power to relax.—Where the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do, it may, after consultation with Union Public Service Commission by order, for reasons to be recorded in writing, relax any of the provisions of these rules with respect to any class or category of persons.

6. Saving.— Nothing in these rules shall affect reservations, relaxation of age limit and other concessions required to be provided for the Scheduled Castes, the Schedule Tribes Other Backward Classes.  Ex-Service personnel and other special categories of persons in accordance with the orders issued by the Central Government from time to time in this regard.

Schedule

[F.No.4/11/2012-IR]
MANOJ JOSHI Jt.Secy.

Source: www.persmin.gov.in
[http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02rti/GFR387.pdf]

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