Can the reasons for not issuing caste certificate be sought under RTI?
14 May, 2012Background
The appellant wanted to know whether the landless Sikh community belonging to Jat caste, not having a movable or immovable property, was entitled to receive OBC certificate or not. He also sought reasons for denial of the OBC certificates to his grandchildren in spite of submitting all the required documents although such certificates have been issued to their parents. The Public Information Officer (PIO) requested the appellant to submit a fresh application for issuance of OBC certificate claiming that his OBC application was not traceable in the office. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) directed the PIO to trace out the appellant’s application for issuance of OBC certificate and issue necessary certificate to him. He further directed that if the said application was untraceable, the PIO should conduct an enquiry to pin point the responsibility and register an FIR in the matter. The appellant submitted that despite the orders of FAA he has not received any information. The respondents submitted that they received the order of the FAA along with the Commission’s hearing notice and have lodged the FIR for loss of file. The appellant refuted the respondent’s statement and asserted that he himself had seen the above file several times in the office of the public authority.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) remitted the matter back to the FAA directing him to enquire into the matter under section 18(2) Where the Central Information Commission or State Information Commission, as the case may be, is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to inquire into the matter, it may initiate an inquiry in respect thereof. of the RTI Act and submit a report to the Commission along with the action taken at his level on the basis of outcome of enquiry. He should also enquire into as to how his order did not reach its destination. Under section 19(8)(b) In its decision, the Central Information Commission or State Information Commission, as the case may be, has the power to require the public authority to compensate the complainant for any loss or other detriment suffered; of the RTI Act, the Commission awarded a compensation of Rs. 3000/- to the appellant for the detriment he suffered due to systemic failure of the public authority. The Commission also directed the FAA to consider issuing the OBC certificates to the children expeditiously, especially since the parents of the children have already received their OBC certificates.
Citation: Mr. Chanan Singh Sandhu v. Department of Revenue Government of NCT of Delhi in File No. CIC/AD/A/2012/000476
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/284
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission