The height and chest expansion of an Inspector of Central Excise – not a CIC matter?
As per the Recruitment Rules for appointment of Inspectors of Central Excise, the candidates are required to have a certain minimum height and a specified expansion of the chest. These requirements are strictly followed in the case of direct recruits, but when it comes to Departmental promotions, these requirements are not considered very seriously. You can always fudge the chest expansion but can you hide your height for long?
And strangely this was a question before the Central Information Commission!
The RTI -request of the appellant read as follows:-
“Question No.1: What is the minimum physical standard set for height & chest (normal & expanded) for appointment to the post of Inspector in your office?
Question No.2: What was the height and chest (normal & expanded) measurement of Shri Kumod Mathur (presently Asst. Commissioner (ICD)), Yamuna Bridge , Agra ), Shri Rajiv Kulsresht (presently Adhikshak Nivarak , Agra ) and Shri Manoj Mishra , Inspector, Kanpur , at the time of appointment to the post of Inspector. In spite of not measuring upto the required physical standards on numerous occasions, how they have been appointed as Inspectors? Kindly provide the names, designation and the present postings.
The matter reached the CIC, which observed,
++ By all accounts this is an unusual and a curious case. It is for the first time somebody has invoked the provisions of the RTI Act to measure the height of incumbents of public office on the ground that when they entered upon this office they falsely represented their height as being above the minimum benchmark, which according to the appellant, could be proved by measuring their heights now.
++ The respondents provided to the appellant information pertaining to Shri Manoj Mishra whose conformity to the laid-down physical standards was referred to the Chief Medical Officer ( CMO ), who certified vide communication dated 31.12.2004 that Shri Mishra satisfied the requirements.
++ In regard to Shri Kumod Mathur , who is presently working as an Assistant Commissioner, the respondents say that he was appointed as an Inspector on 2.12.1972 in the office of the Commissioner of Central Excise, Kanpur . Shri Rajeev Kulshresht was appointed as Inspector Central Excise on 16.7.1983. The CPIO and the Appellate Authority have no information as to what minimum physical requirements were to be adhered to before recruitments to such posts were made in the years 1972 and 1983. There were no records to that effect.
++ Upon hearing the parties and perusing the records, I find myself unable to react positively to the appellant's request for this type of unusual information. This Commission cannot certainly authorize him to measure the heights of employees in order to satisfy himself that they met the minimum physical standards. There is no provision in the RTI Act which would entitle a third-party to measure the height of public servants on nothing more than a suspicion that their heights were less than the required standards for recruitment to the service to which the incumbents belonged. If allowed, this can lead to unforeseen and possibly chaotic results.
++ The appellant's request for measuring the height of the officers listed by him in his RTI -application is, therefore, rejected.
So, how do you determine the height of an officer? Only by the records and not by actually measuring!
CIC F.No.CIC/AT/A/2007/00696 Dated, the 1st October, 2007.