Persistence brings forward serious lapse in records for new-born babies in Delhi hospital
MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM | 26/04/2013 11:48 AM |
The Commission congratulated the applicant for bringing to light a serious lapse in a Delhi hospital, which could be misused for trafficking of new-born babies. This is the 81st in a series of important judgements given by former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi that can be used or quoted in an RTI application
The Central Information Commission (CIC), while allowing a complaint, congratulated the applicant for brining to light a serious lapse in records of new-born babies left by parents or guardians at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Delhi which could be misused to trafficking in new born babies.
While giving this judgement on 25 September 2009, Shailesh Gandhi, the then Central Information Commissioner said, "...it is apparent that there has been no system in place (at the hospital) to ensure that proper documentation is available from the place where the babies are received. Because of the persistence of the RTI applicant the hospital has now obtained these and given them to the appellant. The hospital appears to recognize that there was a serious lapse in its systems."
New Delhi resident Raajmangal Prasad, on 21 February 2009, sought information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Public Information Officer (PIO) of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Delhi. Here is the information he sought and the reply provided by the PIO...
1. How many out of five new-born babies have been left by parents/guardians and how many brought by police?
PIO's Reply: Out of five new-born babies one has been left by parents/ guardians and four brought by police.
2. How many were handed over to the Delhi Council for Child Welfare and how many to the police? Give documentary evidence.
PIO's Reply: Two children were sent Delhi Council for Child Welfare and three children were handed over to the police authorities.
3. Mention the sex (male/female) of the children.
PIO's Reply: Out of five, two were male and three were female.
Claiming that the PIO supplied information without any documentary evidence, Prasad filed his first appeal. The order of First Appellate Authority was not enclosed.
Prasad then approached the Commission with his second appeal.
During the hearing, Mr Gandhi, the then CIC, noted that the appellant (Prasad) has sought details about new born babies left by parents/guardians and handed over to the Police or to the Delhi Council for Child Welfare. However, the hospital did not have the documents evidencing where the children were sent, he noted.
Subsequently after the filing of the first appeal by the appellant, the hospital started searching papers and was able to locate the papers for three children, the CIC said.
"Due to the persistence of Prasad, the hospital obtained these (papers) and gave it to the appellant. The hospital appears to recognize that there was a serious lapse in its systems. The Commission congratulates the applicant for brining to light a serious lapse which could be misused to trafficking in new born babies," Mr Gandhi said while allowing the appeal.
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2009/001900/4934
http://www.rti.india.gov.in/cic_decisions/SG-25092009-06.pdf
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/001900
Appellant : Raajmangal Prasad
Delhi-110092
Respondent : Dr Amareshwar Narayan
Public Information Officer
Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Sector-VI, Rohini,
Delhi-110085
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
No comments:
Post a Comment