Brief of the Case

The complainant sought for information from the Director of Health Services regarding the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme on the following points vide his petition dated 31.7.2006.

1. Amount of money paid to ICICI Lombard as premium by the Government of Assam for the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme for the financial year 2005-06.
2. Total amount of claims made, claims passed and amount disbursed during the Financial year 2005-06.
3. The top 5 ICD coded diseases for which claims were made under this insurance scheme.

The Director, Health Services sent a copy of the petition to the Joint Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department and SPIO of the Department vide letter dated 21.8.06. Not getting the reply from the Health & Family Welfare Department, the petitioner Dr. Sunil Kaul submitted a complaint on 21.11.06 to the Assam Information Commission informing that he had not received any information from Health & Family Welfare Department. The Commission summoned the Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department and the SPIO of the department to appear before the Commission on 21.12.06 with all records. The Commission directed the Principal Secretary of the Planning & Development Department and the SPIO to furnish the information to the complainant within 6.1.07 as the petition of the complainant seeking for information was sent to the Planning & Development Department by Health & Family Welfare Department on 21.10.06.

Dr. Sunil Kaul again brought to the notice of the Commission that the information which was to be furnished by the Planning & Development Department within 6.1.07 was not received by him. Hence this case.

Submission of the parties

The complainants submitted that it was a sorry state of affairs that for a straight and simple information he had to come to the Commission again and again and the information sought for by him on 31.7.06 had not been furnished to him even after 6 months. The SPIO of the Department submitted that the Department received the letter from Health & Family Welfare Department dated 9.10.06 on 20.10.06. As he was not present in the office because of the illness of his mother, the Department wrote to the Area Head, C.S.G, ICICI Lombard, Guwahati on 9.11.06 seeking for the information. He apologized for the delay. He further submitted that the ICICI Lombard sent a letter giving information which was received in the Department on 28.11.06 but as the information was not complete, the Department had again written to the ICICI Lombard, Guwahati and the complete information was received on 13.2.07 which he wanted to give to the complainant. He submitted that he informed the Secretary of the Commission about his seeking complete information from the ICICI Lombard. He also informed that the delay in getting information from ICICI Lombard, Guwahati office might be as all the records of ICICI Lombard were transferred from Guwahati office to Mumbai and that was the reason for delay.

Decision of the Commission

On perusal of the records, it transpired that the SPIO of the Health & Family Welfare Department and his office took about 3 months to transfer a petition received from the petitioner to the SPIO of the Planning & Development Department. It also transpired that the SPIO of Planning & Development Department and his office took 19 days to write a letter to the Area Head, C.S.G, ICICI Lombard, Guwahati and could furnish the complete information to the petitioner only on 14.2.07. The SPIO of the Planning & Development Department received some information from the Area Head, C.S.G. ICICI Lombard, Guwahati on 28.11.06 but the information so received was not complete. The Commission observed that the SPIOs of both the Health & Family Welfare Department and the Planning & Development Department dealt with the petitions under the R.T.I. Act, 2005 very casually and without taking into consideration the fixed time-limit as per the Act for furnishing information. It was also seen that the petitions so received in these departments were not put up promptly by the office staff resulting in delays. The Commission could not allow such casual dealing of the matters under the Right to Information Act to continue.

The Commission, on careful consideration of the facts and circumstances was of the opinion that it was necessary and expedient to have recourse to Section 20 (2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Hence, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 20 (2) of the R.T.I. Act, 2005 read with Section 5(5) of the said Act, the Commission hereby ordered that the Principal Secretary, Planning & Development Department, Government of Assam should cause a Departmental Enquiry into the matter of delay in furnishing information to the complainant and fix responsibility on the officers and the staff responsible for the delay and take disciplinary action against the officers and the staff found responsible for the delay, within 60 days of the receipt of this order.

The Commission, on the same considerations ordered that the Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Government of Assam should cause a Departmental Enquiry into the matter of delay in transferring the petition of the complainant to the SPIO of the Planning & Development Department and fix responsibility on the officers and the staff responsible for the delay and take disciplinary action against the officers and the staff found responsible for the delay, within 60 days of the receipt of this order. Both the Principal Secretary, Planning & Development Department and the Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department should submit reports of compliance along with the reports of enquiry and action taken on or before the date fixed.

Fix 20.4.2007 for reports.



Sd/- (Dr. B K Gohain)
State Information Commissioner, Assam
Janata Bhawan, Dispur.


Authenticated true copy