Respondent: The RTI application and first appeal were not received which were collected from the CIC after receipt of notice of second appeal; The concerned PIO furnished the information and uploaded on CIC’s website - CIC: Respondent to file an affidavit
30 Dec, 2020O R D E R
Information Sought:
The appellant sought Railway Board circular no. under which the addressee (Sr. DMM cum PIO, Ferozpur) is empowered to refuse to accept the letter. Having not received any information from the CPIO, the appellant filed a first appeal dated 09.07.2018 which was not disposed of by the FAA.
Grounds for Second Appeal:
The Appellant filed second appeal u/s 19 of the Act on the ground of non- receipt of information from the respondent. He requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide the information sought for and provide the opportunity of personal hearing.
Hearing on 06.05.2020:
The respondent submitted that since he was hospitalized and therefore, not in possession of the complete file of the instant matter. He requested the Commission to adjourn the matter and fix another date of hearing. The Commission considered the request of the respondent and adjourned the matter.
Submissions made by the Appellant and Respondent during hearing on 23.07.2020:
Appellant reiterated the contents of his RTI application and submitted that despite delay of more than 2 years, no information has been received by him till date. He requested the Commission to direct the CPIO to provide the information sought for.
Per contra, the respondent submitted that RTI application dated 06.06.2018 and first appeal dated 09.07.2018 of the appellant were not received by the office. The office collected the RTI application and other documents from the CIC on 14.07.2020 i.e. after receipt of notice of second appeal from the Commission. The respondent further submitted that his application was transferred to the concerned CPIO, Sr. DSO, Ferozpur and the information was furnished by CPIO on the same date and uploaded on the website of CIC on 14.07.2020. No point of RTI application was left unattended on the part of respondent as alleged by the appellant, as such, the instant appeal being devoid of merit is liable to be dismissed. On query, the appellant contended that he had not received reply from CPIO till date. The respondent agreed to resend the copy of reply dated 14.07.2020, to the appellant.
Decision:
The Commission after hearing submissions of both the parties and perusal of record directs the respondent to file an affidavit with the Commission, deposing that RTI application dated 06.06.2018 and first appeal dated 09.07.2018 was not received by the office. Hence, no information was provided to the appellant within stipulated time as per section 7(1) Subject to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 5 or the proviso to subsection (3) of section 6, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, on receipt of a request under section 6 shall, as expeditiously as possible, and in any case within thirty days of the receipt of the request, either provide the information on payment of such fee as may be prescribed or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in sections 8 and 9: of RTI Act. Copy of affidavit be also given to the appellant. The Commission, further directs the respondent to send the copy of CPIO reply dated 14.07.2020, to the appellant within 15 days from the receipt of copy of this order under the intimation to the Commission.
With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties. The appeal, hereby, stands disposed of.
Amita Pandove
Information Commissioner
Citation: S C Khanna v. CPIO Cum Sr. DMM, DRMO, Firozpur Division, Ferozpur in Second Appeal No. CIC/MORLY/ A/2018/156331, Date – 23.07.2020