New Delhi, March 13 The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has told the Central Information Commission (CIC) that no information is available at its headquarters regarding the orders for diverting food grains under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
The FCI said this while responding to a Right to Information (RTI) application seeking information on the process followed before approving PDS release order diversion and records of such proposals authorized by FCI between 2018-19 and 2022-23 in a region-wise manner.
It also sought details of cost-benefit analyses, transportation expenditure, beneficiary handling and transport contractors (HTCs), pending financial liabilities, and districts without operational railheads for foodgrain handling.
Responding to the RTI application, the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of FCI headquarters said that the information sought on most points pertained to regional offices and transferred the application to all FCI regional offices under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005, for providing the information.
However, the headquarters shared the relevant circulars and standing instructions governing PDS release order diversion.
During the first appeal, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) said that "as per the available record of the sales division FCI Hq. no information w.r.t region wise release order diversion is traceable."
The authority added that "the diversion to PDS release order are operational matters being carried out at DO/RO level," referring to district and regional offices.
The FAA also directed the CPIO of the sales division at the headquarters to go through the records again and provide the relevant documents if traced, and forwarded the RTI application to the regional offices to provide the information directly to the applicant.
During the hearing before the CIC, the appellant said that complete information had not been provided by the regional offices to date, despite the RTI application being transferred.
After examining the matter, Information Commissioner Khushwant Singh Sethi observed that although the RTI application had been transferred under the RTI Act, the regional offices had failed to provide the sought information to the appellant so far.
The Commission subsequently issued a show-cause notice asking the respondent department to explain why penalty proceedings under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act should not be initiated for not providing the information, and directed that the concerned CPIOs from the regional offices attend the show-cause proceedings.