The name of appellant’s mother was incorrect in the passing certificate issued by NIOS - CIC: The issuance of a correct passing certificate means the creation of new information which does not come under the provision of Section 2(f) of the RTI Act

Information Sought:

The appellant passed intermediate examination from NIOS in the year 2015 (Roll No 920315300494). The name of appellant’s mother was incorrect in the passing certificate issued by NIOS. The appellant had submitted a demand draft of Rs.350 in favour of Secretary, NIOS on 24/08/2017 for correcting his mother’s name in the passing certificate. In this context, the appellant has sought the following information:

- Provide passing certificate with correct name of appellant’s mother.

Grounds for Second Appeal

The CPIO has not provided the desired information

Submissions made by Appellant and Respondent during Hearing:

The appellant submitted that despite the fact that he had submitted his original marks certificate along with the DD of Rs 350/- in favour of the Secretary, NIOS Patna, the CPIO had failed to provide the correct passing certificate to him till date and hence penalty may be imposed upon the concerned CPIO.

The CPIO while reiterating the contents of his recent submissions dated 08.09.2020 submitted that the appellant was duly informed that he has to fill a proforma alongwith all the relevant documents in the M& M Branch, NIOS Hqrs. and submit the requisite fee so that a corrected marks certificate may be issued to him. Since he had failed to do so till date, the duplicate marks certificate could not be issued to him. However, the certificate has been issued on 17.09.2020 and the appellant also received it on 24.09.2020.

At this point, the appellant submitted that even though he has received the certificate, however, it was not given to him at the time it was sought due to which he lost many job opportunities.

Observations:

From a perusal of the relevant case records, it is noted that the appellant is aggrieved as a duplicate copy of his passing certificate was not issued to him and he was only informed by the CPIO and the FAA that the correction in his mother’s name was done and which was also published on their website. On the other hand, the FAA in his order and the CPIO in his latest submissions have clearly informed the appellant that there is a proper procedure to apply for a new passing certificate and for this, the appellant has to submit a proforma duly filled in with all the required details accompanied by the requisite fee. It was also stated that a passing certificate cannot be provided under the RTI Act. The Commission concurs with the submissions of the CPIO as under the provisions of the RTI Act only the available and existing information can be provided and in this particular case, the appellant has prayed that his correct passing certificate may be issued. The issuance of a correct passing certificate in itself means the creation of new information which does not come under the provision of Section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act. In case, the appellant wanted a correct copy of his passing certificate he was bound to follow the procedure laid down by the concerned authority in this regard which has been duly informed to him. Now that the certificate has been received by the appellant, nothing more is left in the matter.

Decision:

In view of the above, the Commission upholds the submissions of the CPIO and does not find any scope for further intervention in the matter.

The appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Vanaja N. Sarna

Information Commissioner

Citation: Aditya Kumar v. National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in File no.: CIC/NIOPS/A/2019/601827, Date of Decision: 07/10/2020