Can a single RTI application be filed with multiple queries on a variety of subject?
14 Jul, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Indian Rare Earths Ltd in which he wanted to know about the details of the cars hired during the year 2011 for the use of highly placed officials and the remaining queries relating to the discrepancy between two sets of tax invoices, one submitted to the RTO office Mumbai and the other given to him under RTI and the payment of money for getting choice numbers were totally unclear. The Public Information Officer (PIO) observed that he could not be expected to provide any information since the RTI application contained multiple queries on a variety of subjects.
Proceedings
During the hearing, the Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that no PIO can refuse to disclose information on the ground that the RTI application contains more than one request. The Commission agreed with the respondent that the only actionable request is the one relating to the hiring of vehicles from outside for highly placed officials during the year 2011. The remaining queries did not make any particular sense in the absence of any specific details about the tax invoices or about the so called choice numbers. The CIC also added that it is only after the appellant explained what he meant by this that it was clear that he was referring to the purchase of some cars by the company and without the explanation, the RTI application by itself did not give any such sense.
View of CIC
The CIC directed the PIO to provide the details regarding the hiring of outside vehicles for the use of highly placed officials during the year 2011 including the names of those officials, designation, the dates on which the cars had been hired and the cost of such hiring.
Citation: Mr. S Radhakrishnan v. Indian Rare Earths Ltd in File No. CIC/SM/A/2013/000286
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1450
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission