CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building, Opposite Ber Sarai Market,
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067.
Tel: + 91 11 26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2009/001996/5054
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/001996
Relevant Facts
emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Dr. R. Kumar
Flat No. 76, Plot No. 10
Sector 4, Puspanjali Apartment
Dwarka, New Delhi-110075.
Respondent : Mr. Vivek Raman
PIO & AR
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016.
RTI application filed on : 13/05/2009
PIO replied : 04/08/2009
First appeal filed on : 07/07/2009
First Appellate Authority order : No order
Second Appeal filed on : 20/08/2009
Sr. Information sought PIO's reply
1. Copies of the Agenda item brought out by the Minutes of the 154th and 155th meetings of
Ministry of HRD for BOG meeting wherein it was the Board of governors regarding CAT is
asked that IIT Delhi should come under the preview enclosed at Annexure-I
of the CAT and further action taken by the IIT
Delhi for not coming under the preview of the CAT
and approval of the Competent Authority for the
same.
2. Copies of the rule/orders wherein it has been There is no such record available.
defined that employees can get redressal in CAT of
their disputes at a lesser cost and less time than in
the High Court.
3. Dates of the meetings of BOG wherein Dy. The Board of Governors in its 116th meeting
Directors, IIT Delhi have been called as Special held on 15/03/1995 decided that with a view
Invitee during the year 2004 to till date. of have the benefit of valuable advice in the
matters concerning the charges as also
keeping them abreast of the deliberations that
take place in the meetings of the Board, both
the Dy. Directors shall attend the meetings as
Special Invitees. Since then, both the Dy.
Directors are attending the meetings of the
Board of Governors as special invitees.
4. The deliberations points for the proceedings of Kindly provide specific references to
BOG meeting which have been brought out by Dy. issues/BOG meeting reference to enable us to
Directors in all the said meetings. provide the information.
5. Copies of the relevant papers/orders wherein the Income and expenditure accounts showing
income earned on all the subsidy accounts income earned on all subsidy accounts for
maintained by the Institute i.e. GATE/JAM/JEE etc. the year 2004 till 2008 is enclosed at
have been shown in Annual accounts of the Annexure-II. Accounts for the year 2008-09
Institute. All the details of income and expenditure are yet not finalized.
statements during the year 2004 to till date.
6. Copies of the note sheet of the orders/related papers No such documents on the subject are on
in which orders were issued to incorporate the IRD record with IRD for the said period.
accounts into the Institute’s annual accounts during
the year 2004 to till date.
7. Copies of the orders/letters of Ministry of Health No specific orders regarding treatment of
received by the institute regarding advance T.B. patients from Ministry of Health are
payments and outstanding payments for the received. However, any such expenses are
treatment of T.B. patients for the employees of IIT covered under Institute’s medical scheme.
Delhi from 2004 to till date and further action taken
to clear off the outstanding payments and reply sent
to Ministry of Health in the regards.
8. Copies of the list of advance payment to Details enclosed at Annexure – III.
vendors/suppliers which remained unadjusted in the
annual accounts for the years while closing the
annual accounts during 2004 to till date.
9. Copies of the orders/note sheet wherein the Details enclosed at Annexure – IV.
instructions/guidelines have been issued by the
Ministry of Finance/HRD for reconciliation of Bank
accounts. Copies of the orders/note sheet showing
reconciliation of Bank accounts of IIT Delhi during
the period 2004 to till date.
10. Copies of the list of all the court cases against IIT A list of court cases against IIT Delhi filed in
Delhi filed in various courts in India/abroad various courts in India is enclosed at
Annexure V. As per record, there is no court
case pending in courts outside India in
respect of IIT Delhi.
11. Copies of the payment details made to lawyers per To provide the information about the
hearing ad for all legal purposes, per month during payment details made lawyers per hearing
the year 2004 to till date and the approval for the per month basis will require access to
same. number of files leading to un proportionate
resource requirement and hence cannot be
provided as per clause 7 (9) of the act.
However, Appellant may visit accounts
section with prior appointment to inspect the
record
12. Copies of Agenda Items and approval of the Board Not given.
of Governors, IIT Delhi, for hiring the services of
lawyers for the Institute during the period of 2004 to
till date.
13. Copies of the terms & conditions signed by IIT Copies of the terms and conditions of the
Delhi with the Institute lawyers during the period of legal advisors appointed from 2004 till date
2004 to till date. are enclosed at Annexure VI.
Further, a sample copy of Vakalatnama for
engaging the lawyers on behalf of IIT Delhi
is enclosed at Annexure VII.
14. Bio-data of lawyers who have offered their services As per records there are only two layers who
for IIT Delhi during the period of 2004 to till date. services have been undertaken during the
period from 2004 till date. Details of the
biodata are declined to be provided under
section 8 (1) (j) of the Act.
15. Copies of all the Affidavits for all court cases filed Copies of all the affidavits for all court cases
by IIT Delhi in various courts during the period of field during the period 2004 till date runs
2004 to till date. into hundreds of paper and will require
access to numerous files. This requires long
man hours and leads to un proportionate
resource requirement. Hence, unable to
provide the information as per 7 (9) of the
Act. However, Appellant may visit Legal
Cell with prior appointment for inspection of
records.
Grounds for First Appeal:
Non-receipt of the information from the PIO.
The First Appellate Authority order:
No order.
Grounds for Second Appeal:
The IIT Delhi is misleading and not giving the correct and complete information to the
Appellant.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:
Appellant: Mr. Ashok Panjwani on behalf of Dr. R. Kumar
Respondent: Mr. Vivek Raman, PIO & AR;
The Appellant’s RTI application was received by the PIO on 15/05/2009. The PIO send a letter
to the Appellant on 12/06/2009 asking for additional fees to be deposited. The Appellant
deposited the fees on 04/08/2009 and collected the information on the same day. The Appellant
had been offered inspection of records which he has not taken. It is unfortunate but the fact is
that the pattern of the information is being sought is voluminous and it does not appear that there
is any information that has been sought by the Appellant. The PIO is advised in such cases to
offer inspection under Section 7(9) as he has rightly done in the instant case. The appellant
should be willing to inspect the records and take information that he seeks if he want voluminous
disparate information of this nature. It is also clear that the Appellant did not paid the additional
fee of Rs. 98/-and take the additional information but decided to file a fist appeal complaining
about not getting the information.
The minimum that any applicant must do is to take information and then voice his
dissatisfaction. In this case dissatisfaction has been voiced without even looking at the
information.
Decision:
The appeal is dismissed.
This decision is announced in open chamber.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.
Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.
Shailesh Gandhi
Information Commissioner
7 October 2009
(In any correspondence on this decision, mentioned the complete decision number.)(AK)