To which First Appellate Authority should the first RTI appeal be filed?

Background        

The appellant filed two applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). In the first RTI application, he sought information pertaining to a person posted in the personal security of Smt. Indira Gandhi while in the second; he sought information regarding incoming and outgoing telephone calls of four ministers, meeting details of Smt. Indira Gandhi with Jurnail Singh Bhinderwala prior to Blue Star Operation etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO), MHA transferred both the RTI applications to Prime Minister Office (PMO), Ministry of Communications and Police Head Quarter (PHQ). The PHQ in turn transferred the RTI application to the respective Districts of Police. The PIOs of all the districts of Police denied the information stating that it does not pertains to them. The appellant filed first-appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA), Ministry of Home Affairs. The FAA advised the appellant to obtain the requisite information from the respective PIOs directly.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the appellant had sought information from the MHA, which pertained to different public authorities. The Commission stated that MHA is not the single custodian of information pertaining to the RTI queries and advised the appellant to file separate first-appeals before the Appellate Authorities of each of the public authorities to which the information is related.

Citation: Mr. Jaspreet Singh v. Ministry of Home Affairs Delhi Police in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2011/000894