CIC: The appellant is presuming that the country celebrates anniversaries of Independence Day/Republic Day, whereas, it has been clarified to him that the country celebrates the Independence Day/Republic Day and not the anniversaries
28 Apr, 2019O R D E R
1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi seeking information pertaining to the action taken on his letter sent to the Ministry by registered post on 03.08.2016 regarding wrong calculation of anniversaries of Independence Day and Republic Day.
2. The appellant filed a second appeal before the Commission on the grounds that he is not satisfied with the CPIO’s reply. The appellant requested the Commission to direct the respondent to rectify the mistake in calculating the anniversaries of National Days.
Hearing:
3. The appellant Shri Sanjay S. Shanbhag attended the hearing through videoconferencing. The respondent Shri Rajesh Choudhary, Under Secretary, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi was present in person.
4. The appellant submitted that he has sent certain documents vide registered post on 03.08.2016 to the Ministry of Home Affairs (to Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Home Minister and his two junior Ministers in separate files). However, he had not received any communication in response to the said letter. Consequently, he had filed the RTI application dated 28.09.2016 seeking the action taken on his letter dated 03.08.2016. However, he is not satisfied with the reply furnished by the respondent to him.
5. The respondent, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi submitted that the CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi had informed the appellant in response to the appellant’s RTI application dated 28.09.2016 vide letter dated 02.11.2016 that since his complaint dated 03.08.2016 was sent to Public Section, appellant that since his RTI application is closely related to Ministry of Defence, a copy of his representation has already been forwarded to the Ministry of Defence. Further, the FAA, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide order dated 10.02.2017, had forwarded a copy of the appellant’s RTI application to the Ministry of Defence for providing information to the appellant. Hence, the appellant was informed the action taken on his letter dated 03.08.2016 as sought by him vide his RTI application dated 28.09.2016. The respondent, Ministry of Defence, further stated that the appellant was informed, vide letter dated 27.02.2017, that the 70th Independence Day was celebrated on 15th August 2016 and 68th Republic Day was celebrated on 26th January 2017. Further, the FAA, Ministry of Defence vide order dated 24.04.2017 had clarified that the Ministry had celebrated the 70th Independence Day on 15th August 2016 and not the 70th anniversary of Independence. The respondent explained that the country celebrates Independence Day/Republic Day and not the anniversary of Independence Day/Republic Day. Hence, the appellant’s contention that the anniversaries are wrongly reckoned by the Government is misplaced.
Decision:
6. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of both the parties and perusing the records, observes that the appellant is presuming that the country celebrates anniversaries of Independence Day/Republic Day, whereas, it has been clarified to him that the country celebrates the Independence Day/Republic Day and not the anniversaries. Hence, there is no infirmity in the reckoning of the National Functions i.e. Independence Day/Republic Day. The Commission also observes that due information has been provided to the appellant by the CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs. Hence, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the matter.
7. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
8. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
Sudhir Bhargava
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Sanjay S Shanbhag v. CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi CPIO, Ministry of Defence, Central Secretariat, New Delhi in Second Appeal No. CIC/DODEF/A/2017/136624/MHOME dated 11.03.2019