Air India, DGCA Fail To Respond To RTI Query, May Get Show Cause Notice

Amidst the controversy of preferential treatment meted out to Parliamentarians, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and debt-ridden Air India have failed to respond to a RTI query regarding free air travel of MPs, the airline’s board directors, employees and their family members, which was filed earlier this year.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has now directed the national carrier and DGCA to respond to the RTI application immediately.
“The Commission directs respondents from Air India and DGCA to provide information to the appellant as sought by him in his RTI application dated 19 February 2014 as per the provisions of the RTI Act, within 2 weeks of the receipt of this order, under intimation to the Commission,” directed CIC in its order.
“The Commission directs Public Information Officer (PIO), Air India Limited, Properties & Services Department, Mumbai and PIO, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), New Delhi to submit written submission, latest by 10th October, 2014, to show cause why penalty should not be imposed on them under Section 20 (1) of the RTI Act, for not providing information within the prescribed period under the RTI Act,” CIC added in its order.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal, who had filed the RTI, had sought complete information on the guidelines that defined ‘family members’ and the estimated annual cost incurred by Air India on such free air-travel facilities.
“I had asked for information on the objections received against preferential treatment for Parliamentarians in public and private sector, particulars about public-sector airlines for special handling of Parliamentarians, copy of minutes of meetings of the committee on violation of protocol-norms and contemptuous behaviour of government-officers with members of the Lok Sabha at DGCA along with other details in my RTI. However, I did not receive any reply from their end,” said Agrawal.
Typically, a state-run agency is bound to respond to a RTI query within the stipulated time-period of 30 days of the application.