CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Appeal No.2996/ICPB/2008
F. No. PBC/2008/00235
November 12, 2008
In the matter of Right to Information Act, 2005 - Section 18
[Hearing on 20.10.2008 at 5.30 p.m.]
Appellant: Mr. Viswanath
Public authority: Department of Culture
Central Public Information Officer
Parties Present: Respondents not present.
Appellant not present.
FACTS
:
The appellant has sought information under RTI Act by his letter dated
30.5.2007 addressed to PIO, Ministry of Culture, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
requesting information pertaining to Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi by raising two
queries in his application. Since the appellant did not receive any reply to this
application, the appellant has filed this complaint before the Commission on
4.2.2008. The Commission has called for the comments from the Ministry of
Culture vide letter dated 26.7.2008 for which the Commission has received some
partial reply from Lalit Kala Akademi. When this case was taken up for hearing,
none of the parties have attended the hearing, though the notices have been
sent as per records.
DECISION:
2. I have gone through the RTI application and other replies received in this
connection. The case here is that the appellant has not received any reply from
the Ministry of Culture, though the letter has been addressed to the Ministry.
There is no indication that this letter has been forwarded to the Lalit Kala
Akademi under section 6(3) of RTI Act with a copy to the appellant so that the
appellant can expect some information from the PIO of Lalit Kala Akademi.
When the Commission has called for comments from the Ministry of Culture, the
Commission has not received any comments from the Ministry, instead some
partial reply has been sent by the PIO of Lalit Kala Akademi. In view of this, I
direct the CPIO of Ministry of Culture to go through the RTI application and
provide reply to the appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this
decision. Moreover, the RTI application is dated 30.5.2007 and we are now in
the middle of October, 2008 and till today the appellant has not received any
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reply. Therefore, the designated CPIO of Ministry of Culture is responsible for
not providing this reply and therefore I direct him to show-cause why penalty
cannot be imposed under section 20(1) of RTI Act and he should send his
explanation to the Commission within the above 15 days.
Let a copy of this decision be sent to the appellant and CPIO.
Sd/-
(Padma Balasubramanian)
Central Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy :
(Prem Singh Sagar)
Under Secretary & Assistant Registrar
Address of parties :
1. Central Public Information Officer, Department of Culture, Ministry of
Culture, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001
2. Mr. Viswanath, B-75/G-4, Dilshad Colony, Delhi-110095
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