CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002648/5877
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002648
Relevant Facts
emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Mr T D Kumar,
R/o B-3, Rashmi Apartments,
Harsh Vihar, Pitampura,
Delhi-110034.
Respondent : Mr. Ved Prakash
Public Information Officer &
Assistant Registrar
Government of NCT of Delhi.
Registrar of Cooperative Society,
Old Courts Building, Parliament Street,
New Delhi- 110001.
RTI application filed on : 08/05/2009
PIO replied : 11/06/2009 Transferred on 14/05/2009
First appeal filed on : 01/07/2009
First Appellate Authority order : 20/07/2009
Second Appeal received on : 16/10/2009
Date of Notice of Hearing : 24/10/2009
Hearing Held On : 14/12/2009
Information Sought (with reference to Amrit Cooperative Housing Society Ltd, Harsh
Vihar, Pitampura, Delhi-34).
a) Certified copy of the complain made by Mr Vinay Kumar (security guard) against Mr
VN Mahajan (member, managing committee) dated 03/11/2008.
b) Certified copy of the minutes of the meeting which dealt with the above mentioned
complain.
c) Certified copy of the order of President/Secretary of the Housing Society for
appointment of an enquiry officer to deal with the above mentioned complain.
d) Certified copy of the mandatory notice issued by the Enquiry Officer to all concerned
informing them of his appointment and urging them to help in the enquiry process.
e) Certified copy of the enquiry report of the investigative officer and certified copy of
the statements given by members of the housing society.
f) Certified copy of the minutes of the managing committee meeting (held on
25/01/2009) which discussed the enquiry report.
g) Certified copy of service rules for employees of the housing society framed under
mandatory rule 166 of Delhi Cooperative Society Rules 2007.
Reply of the PIO
a) “The letter under reply is absolutely without any power to direct us to submit the
information as directed to a third party. The application is not made to us”.
b) “RTI is not applicable since we are not a public authority Section 2 (h) of RTI Act”.
c) “Registrar under Delhi Cooperative Societies Act 2003 has no power to direct the
management of a Cooperative Society to provide any information to any third party.
Hence no such power is delegated to your good self. Therefore, the letter under reply
is without any authority to issue such letter”.
d) “The Appellant is not a member or a creditor of the society and has a tendency to
harass the management of the society by instigating different people to file baseless
cases against the society”.
e) RTI application of the Appellant should not be entertained because the very basis of
RTI Act is violated.
First Appeal:
Unsatisfactory information provided by the PIO. The PIO simply gave justifications for not
providing the information.
Order of the FAA:
The FAA concurred with the reply given by the PIO. He also supported his arguments by
giving a reference to CIC decision no CIC/SG/A/2008/00139 dated 30/01/2009. He further
advised the Appellant to seek the route of DCS Act 2003 to get the desired information.
Therefore, he disposed off the case.
Ground of the Second Appeal:
Unfair disposal of the appeal by FAA who simply disposed off the case by giving a reference
to CIC decision. The Appellant also mentioned that he is an owner and resident of a flat in
the same society.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:
Appellant : Mr. T.D.Kumar;
Respondent : Mr. Ved Prakash, Public Information Officer & Assistant Registrar;
The information sough by the Appellant is not available with the RCS but is held by
the cooperative society. Since the information is not held by the public authority it is not
possible to access it under Right to Information.
Decision:
The Appeal is dismissed.
The information sought is not held by the public authority.
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
14 December 2009
(In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.)(RR)