Does the Lok Sabha website contain correct information about the MPs?
23 May, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking information relating to the composition of the Lok Sabha from the very beginning. The Public Information Officer (PIO) referred the appellant to the Lok Sabha website to find out about the details of the composition of each Lok Sabha.
Proceedings
During the hearing the before Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that as per the advice of the PIO, he visited the Lok Sabha website and found that a lot of wrong information was uploaded there in which the reservation status of the Members of Parliament (MPs) from various constituencies had been wrongly entered. The respondent agreed that there could have been some mistakes which were later corrected.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that it is the Election Commission (EC) which is responsible for publishing the final list of MPs elected at the end of an election process against various constituencies including the reserved ones and the PIO should have transferred the request to the Election Commission. The Lok Sabha secretariat has a specific section dedicated to preparing the information about the MPs and publishing it through their website. The Commission held that much time has been already wasted thus the application should not be transferred to the EC now. The CIC directed the PIO, Lok Sabha secretariat to provide a copy of the notifications issued by the EC containing the list of all the candidates elected as MPs from various constituencies for the period such notifications. The Commission observed that if the Lok Sabha website has been updated with all incorrect entries suitably amended, the PIO should also advise the appellant to revisit the Lok Sabha website and find out the details.
Citation: Mr. Yogender Singh Rathore v. Lok Sabha Secretariat in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/001512
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1295
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission