Registration details of a vehicle involved in a road accident sought for claiming compensation & other actions against the owner - CIC: such cases have to be treated as extraordinarily urgent; pertains to life & liberty of the victim; reply within 48 hour

The son of the appellant suffered a serious road accident and is now handicapped - Appellant sought information regarding registration details of a vehicle No.DL8C9080 which was involved in the road accident to help him for claiming compensation and other actions against the owner of the vehicle - CIC: Such cases have to be treated as extraordinarily urgent and as the victim is alive, he needs to fight for survival and recover from the injuries - CIC: the information sought by the appellant is very vital and pertains to life and liberty of the victim; answer to be provided within 48 hours - CIC: show cause notice to PIO for imposing penalty

FACTS

2. The appellant has submitted that through the RTI application dated 15.5.2013, he has sought information regarding registration details of a vehicle No.DL8C9080 which was involved in the road accident on 18.5.2012 in which his son was severely injured. Having received no reply within the prescribed period, the appellant preferred First Appeal. Claiming that no information was furnished by the respondent authority, the appellant has filed 2nd appeal before the Commission.

Decision:

3. Heard the submissions made by both the parties. The appellant submits that he received some information on 1.8.2014. The Commission observes that it is a case of serious fatal accident of a young boy, who is the son of the appellant and who is now handicapped. The appellant is seeking this information to help him for claiming compensation and other actions against the owner of the vehicle, which has hit the victim and ran away. Such cases have to be treated as extraordinarily urgent and as the victim is alive, he needs to fight for survival and recover from the injuries. Hence the information sought by the appellant is very vital and pertains to life and liberty of the victim. The Public Authority has to consider this case as ‘life & liberty case’ and has to answer within 48 hours. They should not exhaust the 30 days statutory period for furnishing this information. The Commission observes that there is inordinate delay in supplying of information in this case to the appellant who has been waiting for more than 2 years and it is highly unbecoming of the Public Authority for not furnishing such information. The Commission, therefore, directs the then respondent/PIO to show cause why maximum penalty cannot be imposed on him for not supplying the required information to the appellant within the prescribed time. His explanation should reach the Commission, within 3 weeks from the date of receipt of this order. The Commission also directs the respondent authority to furnish certified copies of complete information to the appellant following the procedure laid down under the RTI Act within 7 days from the date of receipt of this order.

4. The Commission orders accordingly.

 (M. Sridhar Acharyulu)

Information Commissioner

Citation: Mr. Devender Kumar v. Transport Department GNCTD in File No.CIC/DS/A/2013/001464SA