61 per cent dip in penalties imposed by CIC: Govt

The number of penalties imposed by the Central Information Commission have reduced by 61 per cent between 2013-14 and 2015-16.
"In so far the Central Information Commission (CIC) is concerned, penalty was imposed in 138 number of cases in the year 2013-14, 44 cases in 2014-15 and 54 cases in 2015-16. No data is centrally maintained for state information commissions," Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh today said in the Lok Sabha.
He said recovery of penalty amount from penalised officials is done by public authorities from their salaries.
"This is a continuous process. The recoveries are monitored by the Central Information Commission. Reminders are issued to public authorities when necessary," he said.

The Minister said Section 20(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 provides that the Central Information Commission can impose a penalty on a Cental Public Information Officer (CPIO).
The penalty can be imposed where the CIC at the time of deciding any complaint or appeal is of the opinion that the CPIO as the case may be, has, without any reasonable cause, refused to receive an application for information or has not furnished information within the time specified, the Act states.
The CIC can also penalise if the CPIO has malafidely denied the request for information or knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information.

As per the law, the penalty of Rs 250 per day till application is received or information is furnished but the total amount of such penalty shall not exceed Rs 25,000.