Each Central department covered in RTI

Bhopal, Jan 25: Every department of central government and state government being run from the state would fall under the purview of Right to Information Act (RTI). Person seeking information under the Act could file an appeal to the State Information Commission (SIC) if the office concerned fails to provide desired information and the first appellate officer also fell short in catering to his need.

Division bench comprising Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) PP Tiwari and Information Commissioner (IC) Mahesh Pandey on Friday pronounced the landmark decision by dismissing a plea of Public Information Officer (PIO) and Appellate Officer of Welfare Commissioner's office established for Bhopal gas victims aftermath of the tragedy. The PIO and Appellate Officer pleaded that as the Welfare Commissioner's office was set up by the central government, hence it does not fall under the purview of the SIC and second appeal should be made to the Central Information Commission.

The division bench under section 19 (3) of the RTI Act, 2005 articulated that the second appeal against the decision under sub-section (1) could be filed with the Central Information Commission or the SIC within 90 days from the date on which the decision was taken. Remarkably, the petitioner Rameshwar Prasad Tripathi filed an appeal with the CIC after the Welfare Commissioner's office did not furnish the sough details and the appellate officer also did not entertain him.