Information about action taken for furnishing fake information to obtain passport
18 Dec, 2012Background
The appellant filed a complaint with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) alleging that some individuals had obtained passports by furnishing fake information. Later, he filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of External Affairs seeking to know what action was taken against those individuals. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that action was being taken in this matter under the passport laws. Subsequntly, the appellant was informed that the passports of both the individuals had been impounded based on the police report.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that the information provided by the PIO was neither adequate nor very clear. He demanded that the information should be provided clearly in respect of each of the two individuals against whom he had complained.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the PIO had neither clearly stated the exact action taken against each of the two individuals in the case nor he had enclosed the copies of any material record to show the exact nature of the action taken. The Commission held that under the RTI Act information refers only to material or virtual record and nothing else. The Commission directed the PIO to provide to the appellant clear information about the action taken against both these passport holders separately. He was also directed to send photocopies of relevant documents including file noting to show what action had been taken.
Citation: Mr. Moh. Arif v. Ministry of External Affairs in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/000953
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/883
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission