Around 450 RTI applications and 400 appeals relating to Central University Jharkhand were filed seeking information on alleged corruption - Appellant requested the CIC to allow him to withdraw all his appeals which was accepted by CIC
14 Aug, 2017ORDER
The Commission heard fifty two appeals of the appellant Shri Kumar Pankaj Anand. The appellant was working as Executive Engineer on probation in the Central University Jharkhand (CUJ). The appeals related to his grievance against his termination and even though he has been asking information about corruption in the CUJ.
2. The respondent CPIO stated that the appellant’s services was terminated from the University, along with those of Shri Harish Mohan and Shri Sandeep Kumar, by the Second Executive Council of Central University Jharkhand (CUJ) vide Resolution dated 14.09.2013. This group of terminated employees of CUJ along with Smt. Meenakshi Chaurasia (the appellant’s wife), led by Shri Manoj Kumar, an Advocate of Ranchi High Court had been making complaints to various authorities. All these persons wanted to declare the constitution of 2nd Executive council as illegal and all the meetings and resolutions as null and void so that the decision to terminate the services of these persons taken by the 2nd Executive Council could get revoked. They had together filed around 450 RTI applications (online) and 400 appeals (online) under RTI Act, 2005. All these applications related to Central University Jharkhand (CUJ) sought information on alleged corruption in the CUJ, Constitution of Second Executive Council (EC) of the CUJ, amendment to the statute relating to EC, fund release to the CUJ etc. The said group used to send representations on the said issues to the President, Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Secretaries etc. and thereafter, they filed RTI applications to know the status of the representations received in the MHRD from the above authorities by seeking certified true copies of notings and correspondence of the file concerned. Since the CBI was already conducting inquiry on the corruption charges, the representations on these issues, these were not processed in the MHRD. Accordingly, replies were sent to the applicants on this issue. On the other issues, number of the representations were too high, the CPIO could not process each case. The available information was furnished to the applicants wherever possible.
3. The appellant was not present during the hearing but he vide his email dated 17.04.2017 informed the Commission that he had been reinstated and had re-joined 4 his duty in the Central University Jharkhand and he did not have any complaint against the Central University Jharkhand, University Grants Commission and Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education. He further stated that the CUJ authorities had taken proactive steps to provide him the information that he sought. Hence he requested the Commission to allow him to withdraw all his appeals listed to be heard on 20.04.2017.
4. In view of above submissions of the appellant all the aforementioned appeals are dismissed as withdrawn.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Kumar Pankaj Anand v. Ministry of Human Resource Development in CIC/SA/A/2015/901302/MP, Date of Decision: 08th June, 2017