Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/WB/A/2008/00987-SM dated 22.06.2007
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated 18.03.2009
Appellant : Shri Ashok Kumar Choudhary
Respondent : Cantonment Board Agra, Ministry of Defence
The Appellant is not present, in spite of notice.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following are present:-
(i) Dr. A.K. Sharma, CPIO, Cantonment Board Agra
(ii) Shri Sanjeev Kumar, CEO Agra Cantt
The brief facts of the case are as under.
2. The Appellant had requested the CPIO in his application dated 22 June 2007 for
obtaining copies of a large number of documents. He received no response from the CPIO within
the stipulated period. Thereafter, he filed an appeal before the first Appellate Authority on 18
October 2007 which that Authority decided in his order dated 7 November 2007. However, the
Appellate Authority neither provided any relief nor directed the CPIO for providing the necessary
information. Consequently, the Appellant filed a second appeal before the State Information
Commission, Uttar Pradesh which that Commission transferred to us as the matter fell in our
jurisdiction.
3. During the hearing, the Appellant was not present in spite of notice. The respondent
admitted that the CPIO had not indeed provided the information within the stipulated period and it
was a serious mistake. He explained that the CPIO had made efforts to collect the information but
the sections in the Cantonment Board dealing with various matters related to the information
sought had not co-operated with the CPIO and as a result he could not provide information at all.
The Respondent informed that, in the meanwhile, in a letter dated 5 March 2009, the CPIO had
sent all the available information along with copies of relevant documents to the Appellant.
Normally, the CPIO would deserve to be penalised as per the provisions of the Right to
Information (RTI) Act for not providing the information in time. However, in this case, since he has
explained that it was not a deliberate act and that he would be more careful in future in dealing
with requests under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, we do not intend to impose any penalty on
him this time.
CIC/WB/A/2008/00987-SM
4. Since all the information has already been provided, even though very belatedly, we
dispose off this appeal without any further orders.
5. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(Satyananda Mishra)
Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application
and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the CPIO of this Commission.
(Vijay Bhalla)
Assistant Registrar
CIC/WB/A/2008/00987-SM