RTI query - When and why the sale of silver alloy coins had been discontinued?
7 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of Finance seeking information relating to the sale of silver alloy coins minted by the government mints. He wanted to know when and why the sale of such coins had been discontinued and when such coins began to be sold at higher values through commemorative packs. He also wanted to get the copies of the relevant file noting and correspondence to find how this decision was taken. The Finance Ministry transferred the RTI application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and to the corporation controlling the mints. The Public Information Officer (PIO), mint at Kolkata provided some information and stated that he had no information regarding either the discontinuance of sale of silver alloy coins at the face value or about any decision to sell these coins at higher value. During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent clarified that the reply of the PIO was based entirely on the available records in the mint at Kolkata as he had no access to any other records.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that if any such decision had been taken in the past it should be known to the head office of the corporation only. The Commission directed to transfer the RTI application to the PIO in the headquarters of the corporation who will obtain the information, wherever it is available in the corporation and its various mints and provide to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Subhash Chandra Agarwal v. India Government Mint in File No. CIC/SM/A/2011/002856
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/620
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