Whispers Forum

India has become the world's fourth-largest economy, which is a big achievement. However, this has not affected people much. There are several reasons for this. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. While industries like IT and finance help the economy grow, they do not create enough jobs for most people. Other factors, like a large number of unorganized workers and not enough social support, also make many people feel unhappy. Additionally, concerns about corruption add to this sense of unhappiness.
Aditya Malviya

The appellant claimed double deduction of income tax in which only one deducted amount has been refunded. He submitted to the CIC that neither complete desired information has been provided to him nor the deduction of taxes in Form 16A/ 26AS statement for the FY 2022-23 was reflected by the respondent (Railways) till date. He further contended that the PIOs never took the pain to present the case before the CIC on its own rather they sent their representatives to plead cases which is not in the spirit of the RTI Act. On query from the CIC, the respondent admitted the error shown in the Form 16 A by not showing the deducted tax amount in the appellant’s 26 AS statement of F.Y. 2022-23. She stated that their Chartered Accountant has been asked to reconcile the statement, and volunteered to redress the grievance of the appellant thereafter. The CIC concluded that the reply is vague and evasive. The PIO is expected to have applied his mind and should have facilitated relevant information as sought by the Appellant by invoking Section 5(4) or Section 6(3) of the RTI Act from the concerned department in addressing the issue raised by the appellant. Instead of doing the needful, the PIO washed their hands off by keeping the complaint of the appellant pending till date which ought to have been redressed by reconciling the account at the stage of PIO reply itself. The CIC directed to revisit the contents of the RTI Application to provide relevant information, free of cost, within four weeks. Under Section 19(8) of the RTI Act, the CIC directed to investigate this matter through Senior Divisional Officer other than Finance and Accounts. In doing so, the Appellant be associated in the investigation, and if lapse is found in the matter, the Respondent Public Authority is to fix responsibility on delinquents. Report of the inquiry along with supporting documents shall be shared with the appellant, free of cost, and also uploaded on the link provided in the Commission’s hearing notice within 8 weeks from the date of receipt of this order.
Comments
Deduction of income tax is done from the seeded PAN card number of the assessee with an auto fetched systems where there is little chances of error. Perhaps, the mistake caused coupled with vague reply and absence of any remedial action led to such a strong order.
Citation: Ashok Kumar Sharma v. Office of the Divisional Railway Manager, North Western Railway, CIC/NWRLY/A/2024/100624; Date of Decision: 30.04.2025
Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Vishakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books PIO’s Guide to RTI and Right to Information – Law and Practice. Her weekly article is being published since 2008 on this site. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and third party audit to individuals / organisations. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation at the link https://www.rtifoundationofindia.com

Is civil service any longer a matter of pride? If a chief minister can call the highest ranking civil servant to his official residence and surround him with “goondas” (the SC had used the term. Besides, our best legislation is Anti-Goonda Act!) and beat him and the judiciary smiling at the fun going on, is civil service left with the dignity of a “service” at all? Civil servants make sacrifices in public service that is best among all other wings, because they put their neck on the chopping block for a pittance called salary, suffer politicians and ire of the judiciary too.
M L Gupta

Inclusion of Asaduddin Owaisi in one of the Indian delegations that is travelling abroad to brief countries about Operation Sindoor is not surprising. Owaisi has been most vocal in criticising the government on many issues including Waqf Amendment Bill. But he stood firmly with the government during Operation Sindoor and launched all-out attack on Pakistan after the ghastly Pahalgam terror attack. A section of people also believe that he is BJP's B-team since his party cuts Muslim votes, which ultimately benefits BJP. However, there can be differing opinions about the outspoken AIMIM chief.
Yogesh Mathur