In a case that shows the power of RTI, a man seeking information under the Right to Information Act received van-ful of information running up to 11,500 pages free of cost from the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

RTI applicant Dinesh Chandra Pandey had sought details from the RPF on the bail bonds in Kalyan division. He had made the application because of an ongoing CBI inquiry into the bail bonds handled at the Kurla division. He was surprised to see when the information ran into thousands of pages and sought help from the railways. “I asked them how I will be able to take so much and they arranged for a van,” said Pandey.

Bail bonds are given to an offender when s/he conducts an offence under the Railway Act. This could be hawking, trespassing, spitting among others. Different fine amounts are levied on a person as per the offence done. If s/he cannot pay right away, the person is arrested and produced in a court where the right amount to be paid is decided. “What was happening was that more money was taken from citizens and less was deposited in court. Sometimes no money was deposited at all in the court,” said Pandey, 55, who was given compulsory retirement a year ago. “It was due to the expose that they slapped false charges and made me to retire forcibly,” he alleged.

Pandey now has eight gunny bags full of papers to find out where the officials went wrong. “I will be able to check it quickly as we know when and where things are wrong,” he said.

The information that would have cost him over Rs22,000 was given to him free as it was time barred in the RTI Act.

“They did not give the information in 30 days and when the matter reached the central information commissioner, they were ordered to give all the information,” said Samir Zaveri, who appeared on behalf of Pandey.

When contacted C Soares, assistant public information officer, said: “I was in some other division when the application was first filed. It was not given earlier so had to be given free of cost. The Kalyan division papers are in black and white and clear. Just because there was some inquiry in Kurla division, the person asked for papers for the Kalyan division too. Since the applicant belongs to our department and said he will not be able to collect it, we send him the information through a van.”