ORDER
1. Shri Mukesh Kumar had filed an appeal with this Commission on 29.5.06 Under Section 19(3) and 18(1) of the Right to Information Act against the failure of the CPIO, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), New Delhi, to supply him the information requested for in his application dated 24.1.06. His appeal to the first Appellate Authority dated 21.3.06 also did not get any response from the Appellate 1st Authority. The applicant had sought from the NCSC statistical information onJan., 2006 regarding representation of SCs/STs in each Public Sector undertaking and joint venture under the control of Ministry of Steel. He had also requested the CPIO to provide him the list of other statistics, if maintained by the Commission, in compliance to Article 16(4) and 16(4-A) read with Article 16(1) and 14 of the Constitution.
2. The Commission issued notices to the first Appellate Authority, the CPIO and the appellant on 12th May, 2006 for a hearing fixed for 7th June, 2006. A bench comprising Dr. O.P. Kejariwal and Dr. M.M. Ansari,Information Commissioners heard the matter. Mrs. K.D. Bhansor, APIO, NCSC appeared on behalf of the Commission and the appellant Shri Mukesh Kumar was present in person.
Decision:
3. The respondent informed the Commission that a reply was sent on 29th May, 2006 to the appellant stating that the NCSC is not the custodian of the information asked by him and that the information might be available with the Ministry of Steel.
4. In fact, he had, on the same date, forwarded the appellant’s application dated 24th Jan., 2006 to the Ministry of Steel and the Chairman SAIL/IISCO. The appellant contended that under the Constitution of India, the NCSC is duty bound to maintain these statistics. If they are not maintaining these statistics they fail in their Constitutional obligations and an enquiry should be held into the matter. The Commission was unhappy that it took the NCSC full four months to say that they are not the custodians of the information asked for by the appellant. Thus the CPIO, NCSC had failed in her duty Under Section 7(1) of the RTI Act to send a reply within 30 days of the receipt of the request. Similarly, the first appellate authority, by not responding to the appeal dated 21st March, 2006, had failed in his duty Under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act. The Commission, therefore, directs that notices be issued to both, the CPIO and the Appellate Authority, Under Section 20 of Right to Information Act calling for the explanation for willful default of the statutory provisions of the Right to Information Act and why penalties envisaged Under Section 20 of the Act may not be imposed upon them. The Commission fixed 27th July, 2006 as the next date of hearing when both the CPIO, Shri M.A. Sattar and the Appellate Authority, Shri S.S. Sharma, in the NCSC should appear before the Commission personally. The question of maintenance of statistics under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act by the NCSC will also be taken up at this hearing.
