Appellant sought information regarding the date on which a postal order has been encashed by Jhansi Development Authority - PIO: Information is not available - CIC: Reply does not contain any reference to the record retention policy; Provide revised reply
12 Dec, 2024O R D E R
1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 28.02.2023 seeking information on the following points:
(i) Please provide information on what date the postal order no. 45F 082450 has been encashed by the Jhansi Development Authority Jhansi Please Provide Copy of it.
2. The CPIO replied vide letter dated 20.03.2023 and the same is reproduced as under :-
“As per available record, sought information is not available.”
3. Dissatisfied with the response received from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 08.04.2023 alleging that the information provided was incomplete, false and misleading. The FAA vide order dated 09.05.2023 upheld the reply given by the CPIO.
4. Aggrieved with the FAA’s order, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal dated 16.05.2023.
5. The appellant along with her representative remained present through video conference and on behalf of the respondent Mr. Prateek, CPIO attended the hearing through video conference.
6. The appellant’s rep inter alia submitted that she had sought information regarding the date on which a postal order has been encashed by Jhansi Development Authority, but the information has been wrongly denied by the Respondent authority.
7. The respondent while defending their case inter alia submitted that it is not possible to provide the information sought by the applicant due to non-availability in their office. Since the applicant has addressed the postal order in question to Jhansi Vikas Pradhikaran (Jhansi Development Authority). Therefore, the postal order in question must have been cashed by Jhansi Vikas Pradhikaran Office through a post office, therefore the information sought can be obtained from Jhansi Vikas Pradhikaran (Jhansi Development Authority) Office only. Additionally, he informed that the RTI application was received in year 2023, the records are kept till 18 months only and the said IPO pertains to year 2018, and hence the information was not preserved till that time.
8. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both parties and perusal of records, observes that the reply provided by the CPIO does not contain any reference to the record retention policy or the preservation period of the records. Therefore, the Commission directs the Respondent to furnish a revised reply to the Appellant mentioning their record retention policy for weeding out the records. The reply shall be sent to the Appellant within 20 days of the receipt of this order, under intimation to the Commission. Accordingly, the appeal is disposed of.
Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
ANANDI RAMALINGAM
Information Commissioner
Citation: Smt. Saira Bano v. Department of Posts, Second Appeal No. CIC/POSTS/A/2023/623911; Date of Decision: 06.11.2024