List of examination center in Maharashtra for NTA NET was denied claiming that the information is not available in the form desired by the applicant - CIC: No relief as reply citing

O R D E R

1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 17.03.2023 seeking information on the following points:

(i) “Name List of examination center in Maharashtra for NTA NET Dec- 2022 (Held in Feb March 2023)

(ii) One Time Candidate capacity for examination of all examination center in Maharashtra for NTA NET Dec- 2022 (Held in Feb March 2023).”

2. Having not received any response from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal on 11.05.2023. The FAA’s order, if any, is not available on record.

3. Aggrieved with the non-receipt of the desired information, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal dated Nil.

4. The Appellant remained absent during the hearing and on behalf of the Respondent, Sandeep Sharma, DD & CPIO attended the hearing in person.

5. The Respondent submitted that the reply to the RTI Application was provided on 15.09.2023 stating that–

“This information is not available in the form desired by you. Hence, this information could not be furnished to you. It may be mentioned that as per the judgment dated 9th August 2011 of the Honourable Supreme court of India in the matter of Aditya Bandopadhyay & Others (Civil Appeal No. 6454 of 2011), has observed that, but where the information sought is not a part of the record of a public authority, the Act does not cast an obligation upon the public authority to collect or collate such non available information and then furnish it to the applicant.”.

Further, it was submitted upon a query from the Commission that he is not aware if there were any CPIOs designated at the time of receipt of the instant RTI Application. He further submitted that NTA is a relatively new body and the delay in replying to the RTI Application is also attributable to the time taken in setting up the RTI mechanism.

6. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, and perusal of records, takes grave exception to the fact that no reply was provided to the instant RTI Application within the stipulated time frame of the RTI Act. Moreover, the CPIO present during the hearing has tendered a baffling submission about the RTI machinery being still under process in NTA even in the year 2023. The NTA formed in the year 2017 cannot as a public authority under the RTI Act claim that it entailed over 5 years for the implementation of the RTI Act in NTA.

Now, therefore, a copy of this order is marked to the Director General, NTA to take note of the adverse observations of the Commission in this regard. The Director General, NTA shall take necessary corrective action to ensure that the CPIOs and FAAs are instructed strictly to adhere to time stipulations prescribed under the RTI Act and at no point in time will the post of CPIO or FAA be left vacant, inundating the public authority with pending RTI Applications and First Appeal(s), thus causing a mockery of the statutory right to information enshrined upon the citizens.

Further, as regards the information sought in the RTI Application, the Commission finds that the reply provided by the CPIO citing unavailability is appropriate. Therefore, no scope of ordering any relief is pertinent in the matter.

Nonetheless, for the sake of propriety, Sandeep Sharma, Deputy Director & CPIO is hereby strictly warned to ensure in future that any document that is placed on the record of the Commission is accompanied with a proper covering letter as the Commission cannot be expected to decipher the relevancy of the documents sought to be relied upon by the CPIO without any reference or explanation.

7. The Appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.

Sd/-

ANANDI RAMALINGAM

Information Commissioner

Citation: Brahamdeo Vitthal Shinde v. National Testing Agency, Second Appeal No. CIC/NTAGN/A/2023/636913; Date of Decision: 04.11.2024