CIC’s decisions
·
Eligibility of applicant for RTI application
In
number of cases, PIOs have rejected applications when
they were made by persons other than individuals (citizens of
The issue before CIC was whether a company or its director can fall under the definition of citizen under the RTI Act. Section 2(f) of The Citizenship Act, 1955 defines a person as under:
“ ‘Person’ does not include any company, an association or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not”.
After some discussion on above and analysing few judgements of the courts, CIC ruled:
“Even if it were conceded that a company or a corporate body is a legal entity distinct from its share holders and it is not in itself a citizen, it is a fact that all superior Courts have been admitting applications in exercise of their extraordinary jurisdiction from companies, societies and associations under Article 19 of the Constitution of which the RTI Act, 2005 is child. Very few petitions have been rejected on the ground that the applicants/petitioners are corporate bodies or companies or associations and, as such, not “Citizens”. This Commission also has been receiving sizeable number of such applications from such entities. If the Courts could give relief to such entities, the PIOs also should not throw them out on a mere technical ground that the applicant/appellant happens to be a legal person and not a citizen.”
“In conclusion we direct that an application/appeal from an Association or a Partnership Firm or a Hindu Undivided Family or from some other group of individuals constituted as a body or otherwise should be accepted and allowed. The CPIO, CPWD, Kolkata will dispose of the present application of Shri Talukdar accordingly, as mandated by Secs. 6 & 7 of the RTI Act, 2005 within thirty days of the receipt of this Decision Notice.”
·
File Noting
A
question of disclosure of file noting continues to remain confusing and
controversial. In January 2007, very detailed Order was made by the full bench
of the commission in the case of Shri Pyare Lal Verma
(PLV) of
1) Whether the decision of the Commission concerning file noting needs to be reviewed in view of the submissions from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.
2) Should the CIC hear and decide all appeals/complaints under the RTI Act sitting in full Bench only?
3) Whether the directions given to the DOPT concerning removal of instructions from their web site are legal and binding?
4) What directions, if any, can now be passed in the interest of justice?
Order consisting of 25 pages decided the
above issues as under:
On 1st issue: “Thus, from whichever angle the provisions of the Right to Information Act are looked into, “file notings” cannot be held to be excluded unless they come in conflict with public interest as aforesaid or are excluded under any of the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. We therefore see no reason to disagree with the Decisions on the subject pronounced thus far by this Commission. File noting is to be made available to applicants under the Right to Information Act unless they come in conflict with public interest including preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information and are therefore excluded under any of the provisions of the Act.”
On 2nd issue: It is for Chief Central Information Commissioner to decide how appeals/complaints be heard and it need not be by commission sitting in full bench only.
On issues 3 & 4, after elaborate reasoning, CIC decided: “The Commission recommends that the DOPT will suitably amend their website and remove all instructions/views which are contrary to the above decision within one month.”
Even after above such detailed Order, the complaints go on coming that file notings are denied. In the case of Shri Ravinder Kumar, IPS (Retd), he received reply from CPIO & Director (Police) MHA as under:
“As you might be aware, file notings are not made available under the Act. Similarly, it is regretted, it would not be possible to supply you the file notings when your case was examined in MHA upon receipt of a reference from the State Government.”
In the Order, CIC decided as under:
“Shri Ravinder Kumar, IPS (Retd.) is free to make a fresh application to CPIO, MHA for information sought in connection with file noting in light of the above order and the CPIO MHA will be obliged to provide this insofar as it is covered by the above.”
·
The RTI Act:
To continue the study……………
Section 26: This section is very significant. It casts obligation on the Government to take many actions to really make the RTI Act effective and well-used. However, such obligation gets diluted by use of the words: the Government may, to the extent of availability of financial and other resources carry out the obligations.
There are 4 obligations:
(a) develop and organise educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public, in particular of disadvantaged communities as to how to exercise the rights contemplated under this Act;
(b) encourage public authorities to participate in the development and organisation of programmes referred to in clause (a) and to undertake such programmes themselves;
(c) promote timely and effective dissemination of accurate information by public authorities about their activities; and
(d) train Public Information Officers of public authorities and produce relevant training materials for use by the public authorities themselves.
Sub-section (2) provides that the Government shall compile a guide in an easily comprehensible form and manner to enable citizens to exercise their rights granted in the Act. Time limit for it is 18 months which has expired. I am not aware whether any such guide is published. This guide is supposed to be updated at regular intervals.
This guide is to be comprehensive to include (a) the objects of the Act (b) the addresses etc. of PIOs (c) the form of application (d) the provisions for the voluntary disclosure of records (e) details of all circulars issued etc.
Section 27: This section provides power to make rules. Rules could be to provide:
(a) the cost of the medium or print cost price of the materials to be disseminated under sub-section (4) of section 4;
(b) the fee payable under sub-section (1) of section 6;
(c) the fee payable under sub-sections(1) and (5) of section 7;
(d) the procedure to be adopted by CIC/SIC in deciding the appeals; etc.
Section 28: Section 2(e) defines “competent authority”. These authorities are independent of the Government. “Competent authority” means: (a) the Speaker of Lok Sabha or State Assembly etc. (b) the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the High Courts (c) The President or the Governor, and (d) the administrator appointed under article 239 of the Constitution. Section 28 provides power to these competent authorities to make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act such as the fees payable for making RTI applications etc.
·
Other News:
CA Tarun Ghia has received an Order under the RTI Act of the
Appellate Authority (AA) in the office of the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai. His
appeal was to get proper information with regard to any notification /
circular/other document of the office of the Charity Commissioner, if any,
disallowing CAs from appearance and representations
and if any, to provide copy thereof.
The AA in the Order has now disclosed the CIRCULAR No 23 dated
§
MTNL
Deposit :
It is satisfying to note that many CAs have been using RTI. CA, Kishore Chitalia, did not get his deposit back after surrending his MTNL telephone. Same was not being refunded for months inspite of continuous follow up right upto the general manager level. Matter remained “under process” all the time. RTI application brought refund and interest within 20 days.
§
RTI bank
:
Ever heard of such a bank? In
§
BSE &
NSE covered under the RTI Act :
CIC in its recent Order, overruling the objections of
the Finance Ministry and National Stock Exchange (NSE) held that bourses being
“quasi-governmental bodies” are public authorities and hence would come within
the purview of the Right to Information Act.
Two stock exchanges, NSE and Jaipur Stock exchange which had turned down the information requests on ground that the bourses were beyond the purview of the RTI Act, have been directed by CIC to put RTI regime in place within one month and have directed all the bourses in the country to comply with the RTI rules within three months
§
Passport
Dr. C. V. Acchra
the principal of a
Readers will notice the impact of RTI.
§
RTI and Internet
:
The RTI is set to take its next big leap, into the
Internet. The Central Information Commission will ask all departments to begin
accepting applications via email, and has proposed to the Prime Minister that
government – related information of any kind that can be shared with citizens –
possibly tens of millions of pages – be put on the Internet. And in the future,
citizens can even look forward to seeking information from the government
sitting at home, making payments online through credit card.
RTI in
action:
· RTI applications through post offices :
Under
this part, last month we reported response to RTI application made to the
office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of
To
make system of making RTI applications easier, the decision was taken by the
Prime Minister of India that the Department of Posts should provide its service
to the whole of Central Government as a collection point for information under
the RTI Act by designating its CAPIOs as CAPIOs for the entire Central government. The postal
department now not only receives cash of Rs. 10 being
RTI application fees on behalf of all Central Government Public Authorities but
also takes the responsibility of delivering the RTI application free of charge
to the concerned CPIO all over
To find out how many post offices in Bombay, Thane and Kalyan are designated for doing this function, RTI application was made as such information was not available anywhere including on website of the postal department: www.indiapost.gov.in In reply, we have now received the list of 88 post offices which are designated, the list is posted on www.bcasonline.org In Maharashtra and Goa such designated post offices number 433.
|
BCAS Foundation has published a booklet: Right to Information --- A route to good Governance. You may collect the copy from BCAS office, if interested. Booklet is free but you may pay any amount you wish to – your contribution will be accepted with appreciation. |
· Passport :
Dr. C. V. Acchra
the principal of a
“Things have been sorted out and we have handed the passport to Dr. Acchra,” said S. R. Mestry, assistant passport officer in thane.
“I can now go abroad to present my research papers. All these years I had to turn down invitations due to the lack of a passport,” said Acchra.
Readers may notice the impact of RTI.