Status of application for issue of caste certificate was sought - CIC recommended to establish a mechanism where the concerned Tehsildar of the State Government is contacted telephonically to find why verification report was not sent within time
23 Dec, 2014The appellant has filed 3 appeals against the same Public Authority on the same subject matter and hence they are taken together for hearing today.
FACTS
2. The appellant filed three RTI applications on 27.7.2013 seeking information with regard to action taken on his application for Cast Certificate, file noting, officer responsible for issuing it etc. Having received no reply within the prescribed period, the appellant preferred First Appeal on 2.9.2013. Claiming non furnishing of information from the Respondent authority, the appellant preferred Second Appeal before the Commission.
Decision:
3. Both the parties made their submissions in all the three appeals. The appellant submitted that she wanted to know the status of her application for issue of caste certificate which has been pending for a long time. The respondent authority, on the other hand, submitted that the issue of appellant’s caste certificate by the Delhi Government is based on her document, which was a caste certificate issued by the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, the respondent authority had forwarded the same to Govt. of UP for verification and they had not replied. Hence as per their system, the application for caste certificate is closed after 2 months, if the relevant verification report was not received from the concerned State Government. The respondent authority, therefore, suggested the appellant to apply for the caste certificate afresh and pursue the concerned Tehsildar in Uttar Pradesh, who issued her caste certificate, to send the verification report within 2 months. In this regard, the appellant submitted that the concerned authorities are demanding bribe to quicken the process of sending verification report/issuing the caste certificate. She also submitted that with the reference number given by the respondent authority, she was not able to track the progress of the file for issuance of the caste certificate on the internet.
4. After hearing the submissions, the Commission observes that the respondent authority had written a letter in August 2013 to the Govt. of UP, which was shown to the Commission during hearing and it is not established whether the said letter was dispatched or not. The appellant claimed that she did not receive any copy from the respondent authority. The Commission, therefore, directs both the parties to give their submissions in writing, stating all the above facts, within one week from the date of issue of this order. The Commission recommends the Public Authority to establish a mechanism where the office contacts the concerned Tehsildar of the State Government by telephone and find out why verification report was not sent within the timebound period. If the same is received within the specified period, it shall be presumed that there is no problem in issuing caste certificate. In the absence of this mechanism the citizens are suffering and inspite of time bound service under the law, no service is being rendered. The Commission also directs the PIO to show cause why penalty cannot be imposed for not responding to the three RTI applications within the prescribed period. His explanation should reach the Commission within 3 weeks from the date of receipt of this order.
5. The Commission orders accordingly in all the three appeals above.
(M. Sridhar Acharyulu)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Ms. Rekha v. Sub Divisional Magistrate (Vasant Vihar), GNCTD in File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000124 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000125 File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000126