CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
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Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2010/000748/10967
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2010/000748
Relevant Facts
emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Mr. Bijender Singh Mehla
B1/14, Model Town (II),
Delhi - 110009.
Respondent : Mr. Jay Chanda
Public Information Officer &
Assistant Registrar,
University of Delhi,
Main Campus, New Delhi-110007.
RTI application filed on : 23/12/2009
PIO replied : 21/01/2010
First appeal filed on : 09/02/2010
First Appellate Authority order : Not ordered
Notice of Hearing sent on : 22/12/2010
Hearing held on : 15/01/2011
The Appellant had sought information for 10 years on various points:
Sl. Information Sought Reply of the PIO
1. With respect to the African Studies Department, The details of the Budget allocation for other
the amount of fund allocated to them for the last charges out of the Maintenance Grant were
10 years and the source of the same. enclosed.
2. A detailed account of spending of the fund. The record is available with the Finance
Office.
3. The irregularities that came to the fore with As above.
respect to the fund and the action taken.
4. An account of the stationery, furniture, computer Accounts of the said items require three
and books purchased with such fund. How much months time because of financial closing of
of it has been dumped by the Department and 2009-2010.
how much is left over the last 10 years.
5. The date when the Department was shifted to the The Department shifted in 2005. The requisite
new compound. The amount of space allocated to information is available with the Dean, Social
them. Sciences with whom the space is shared.
6. Whether the space has been withdrawn. If yes, The withdrawal was done under the direction
then whether a committee has been constituted in of the Heads, Dean, Social Sciences, Proctor
regard to the issue. and Vice Chancellor.
7. The number of committee working for the The Department functions under different
Department, their action status and the status of committees such as Department Council,
their members. Deptt. Research Committee and M.Phil
Committee that includes permanent, ad-hoc
and guest faculty members.
8. The status of the faculty along with the selection Copy was enclosed.
criteria.
9. Number of members in the Selection committee The Selection Committee may be constituted
and other committee constituted by the Deptt. as per the University rules.
10. Whether there had been any legal proceedings No such cases as informed by the legal cell
against any faculty member. and vigilance office.
11. Detailed information regarding the Head of Copy was enclosed.
Department’s foreign tours during the last 10 and
the expenditure incurred on the same along with
the source of this fund.
The PIO had also offered an inspection of the records, since most of the data was not available in the
collated form for the 10 year period.
First Appeal:
Unsatisfactory information provided by the PIO.
Order of the FAA:
Not ordered.
Ground of the Second Appeal:
Incomplete information provided by the PIO and inaction on the part of the FAA.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present
Appellant : Absent;
Respondent : Mr. Jay Chanda, Public Information Officer & Assistant Registrar;
The Respondent states that the Appellant did not come forward to inspect the records. The
Commission sees that the information available on the records has been provided to the Appellant.
However, the Commission feels that regarding query-03 about irregularities in accounts the PIO should
take a broader interpretation of the term irregularities which would include observations about corrupt
practices, audit objection or improper spending. If there is any record of such irregularities the Appellant
should be informed. If there are no such records this should be stated.
Decision:
The Appeal is partially allowed.
The PIO will provide the information as directed above for query-03 to the
Appellant before 30 January 2011.
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
15 January 2011
(In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.)(ND)