ORDER
1) CPIO Shri O.P. Mishra will immediately give to appellant Shri H.R. Verma, a copy of the policy documents relating to policy of DDA on file in regard to allotment of Nursery School sites from 1989 onwards.
2) CPIO will also provide a letter to Shri Verma clarifying as he has throughout the hearing stated, that there has been no change in this policy, except the substitution of this policy by the Notification above cited of 19.4.2006. If there have been any other interim changes in policy these will be clarified by Shri O.P. Mishra, CPIO in this letter of response. This letter will be issued within one week under intimation to this Commission.
3) This leaves the issue of imposition of penalty to be resolved. We find that in fact information sought by Shri Verma has not been refused or any mala fide action taken to prevent his access to information. The file has indeed been shown to appellant Verma and inspected. If appellant Shri Verma has not taken from the file the information that he required, CPIO Shri Mishra who has successfully demonstrated that the documents sought were part of that file, cannot be held liable for penalty on this account.
8. However, I am constrained to observe that when the issues framed by appellant in his original application were specific and simple, while allowing for inspection of the file, it need also to be clarified from the appellant whether there were any copies of the documents that he required and whether he had received the answer to the information sought. Had this been done, the doubts and misunderstandings could have been set at rest at this very initial stage.
9. The handling of the application has, at the very least been singularly maladroit.
10. There has been, therefore, a failure in the process of supply of information at several levels: at the level of CPIO for not having followed through, after initially supplying the information; at the level of Appellate Authority who did not hear the appeal. CPIO has during the hearing averred that Shri R.K. Singh the then Appellate Authority had demitted office in June.
11. This, however, is of no consequence since the appeal mechanism is expected to be institutional and not individual. The failure is, therefore, of the public authority as a whole. The Vice Chairman, DDA is, therefore, directed to enquire into this matter and initiate disciplinary action Under Section 20 (2) against those responsible for this lapse in responding to a simple request for information, and indicate to us the action proposed to be taken against those found at fault within 20 working days of the date of issue of this order.
12. Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.