Action report against illegal activities in Arya Samaj Mandir premises
24 Aug, 2012Background
The appellant sought information on different queries and action taken report on the complaints of residents of a certain area against Arya Samaj Mandir for misuse of their premises. The Public Information Officer (PIO) supplied information on few points and denied for the rest of the details as the appellant has not mentioned any specific time period of information related and rejected the few queries as they were not ‘information’ as defined under section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. However, the First Appellate Authority (FAA) directed to provide copy of the enquiry report to the appellant.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the basic issue related to the alleged holding of unauthorized functions including banquets, by the Arya Samaj Mandir causing inconvenience to the residents of the area, including traffic problems. The appellant also alleged illegal activities like consumption of alcohol and burning of crackers during late hours. The Commission also noted that according to the enquiry report, no such illegal activities were found to be taking place in the premises of Arya Samaj Mandir, which the appellant strongly opposed as being incorrect. The Commission pointed that there are other agencies which may be involved for arriving at the correct conclusion such as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Licensing Branch of Delhi Police for giving permission to the Arya Samaj Mandir for holding such banquets, Traffic Police for regulation of traffic and for taking action for violation of traffic rules etc. Therefore, the PIO of the Central District of Delhi Police was directed by the Commission to obtain necessary clarifications as per their record from the Licensing Branch as well MCD and provide to the appellant. Further, as far as the regulation of traffic matter was concerned, the Commission directed the PIO to transfer copy of the complaint to the PIO, Delhi Police Traffic who would directly provide requisite information to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. I.M. Bhatia v. Delhi Police in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/000285
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/586
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission