Are the records vaguely referred in the RTI application liable to be traced?

Background

The appellant referred to some report appearing in the newspapers and wanted to get a copy of the Supreme Court order on the said subject. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed him that all the orders passed by the Supreme Court could be accessed from its website and that the certified copies of such orders could be obtained from the Supreme Court Registry by moving an application under the rules and orders made in this regard.

Proceeding

During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the appellant had referred to some report appearing in the newspapers to the effect that the Supreme Court had taken the central government to task for giving a paltry sum of pension to the widow of some army man. The respondent clarified that it would not be possible to identify any particular order of the Supreme Court on such vague details as stated in the Right to Information (RTI) application.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) held that the appellant have to find out more details about any such order and then apply to the Supreme Court of India by adopting the procedure laid down in their respective rules and orders for getting a certified copy of the order. The Commission rejected the appeal stating that it is not possible to get any information about the relevant Supreme Court order on the basis of newspaper reports only.

Citation: Mr. V S Nathan v. Supreme Court of India, in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/001513