CIC: the RTI Act cannot be used for establishing an unending dialogue with a public authority about general concerns or apprehensions that an appellant may have in his mind - no right to supervise and monitor day to day working of a public authority
6 Aug, 2014After receiving the documents, the appellant wanted to inspect records of weekly certificates signed by the officials to check their authenticity - CIC: the RTI Act cannot be used for establishing an unending dialogue with a public authority about general concerns or apprehensions that an appellant may have in his mind - Section 2(j) “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; of the Act does not provide under right to information, the right to supervise and monitor day to day working of a public authority
Information sought:
The appellant had sought information relating to names of all EE(B)s presently posted in Zones/Head Offices with date of appointment, police reporting and action taken, addresses of properties demolished and copy of their show cause notices and date of last 6 months when SE called for meeting of staff to check whether records maintained properly, etc. pertaining to all Executive Engineers (EEs) of South Delhi MCD and North Delhi MCD.
Relevant facts emerging during hearing:
The appellant is not present. The appellant had filed an RTI application on 14.12.2012 seeking the abovementioned information. The PIO in his reply dated 07.03.2013 gave point-wise reply providing information on some points and informed the charges for obtaining relevant copies. The FAA in his order dated 27.04.2013 directed PIO to provide information on points 2 to 4 for which the appellant had deposited fee of Rs.80/-. In pursuance of FAA’s order, CPIO sent the desired documents to the appellant on 24.05.2013. The appellant filed another application with the FAA on 28.06.2013 requesting for inspection of records of EEs certificates to which no reply was sent.
Decision:
After hearing the respondent and on perusal of documents, the Commission notes that the PIO replied to the RTI application on a few points while demanding the prescribed charges for furnishing information on certain points. In pursuance of FAA’s order, PIO sent the desired documents to the appellant on 25.05.2013. One of set of documents asked for was the weekly certificate. After receiving these documents, the appellant again wrote to the FAA on 28.06.2013 to inspect records of weekly certificates signed by the SE, EE and AE and the dates when each of them was sent to the next officer to check their authenticity. The FAA did not reply to this communication. The question before the Commission is whether the appellant’s request for inspection should have been allowed after the documents asked for had been provided to him, since the request for inspection was made to check the authenticity of the documents provided. The appellant’s request virtually amounted to supervising and monitoring the day to day functions of the public authority as is clear from his email dt. 28.06.2013 wherein he has made clear that his intention was to check the authenticity of all such certificates and ensure that action had been initiated against all unauthorised constructions noticed in the week. The Commission, therefore, is not inclined to give any direction to the respondent authority who has not responded to the request made by the appellant for inspection of registers to check the authenticity of the information already received by him from the respondent. The RTI Act cannot be used for establishing an unending dialogue with a public authority about general concerns or apprehensions that an appellant may have in his mind. Once an order for disclosure of information within the meaning of Section 2(j) “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; has been given and respondents have complied with the same, they have completed their part of the obligation. Section 2(j) “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; “right to information” means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to- (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; of the Act does not provide under right to information, the right to supervise and monitor day to day working of a public authority. Further, the appellant was neither present during the hearing before the FAA nor before the Commission to present and argue his case. In view of the above, the appeal is disposed of accordingly.
(Yashovardhan Azad)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri A.D. Sharma v. North Delhi Municipal Corp. Delhi in F.No. CIC/DS/A/2013/001347-YA