RTI application seeking details of material auctioned from the Railway General store

Background

The appellant sought various information about the non ferrous material auctioned from the western railway general store – Dahod including the date of receipt of these materials and details of materials auctioned. The Public Information Officer (PIO) furnished 1750 pages to him in response to his queries. The appellant filed the first appeal stating that the information provided to him was not legible. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) informed the appellant that if he finds the copy of sale issue as not legible, he may approach the Railway Protection Force (RPF) Post.

Proceedings

During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the appellant is one of the accused who is involved in the fraud related to supply of nonferrous material. He also stated that all the information sought by the appellant has been provided to him except the copies of all the communication and file notings, sale letters and sale issue notes which has been denied under section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act since the Railway court Godhra has seized the matter and the case was going on.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) agreed with the decision of the First Appellate Authority (FAA) and rejected the appeal.

Citation: Mr. Indrasen Singh v. Western Railway O/o the Dy. Chief Technical Engineer in File No: CIC/AD/C/2012/000218