Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/WB/A/2007/01184-SM dated 11.05.2007
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated 15.04.2009
Appellant : Shri Rajeev Shrivastava
Respondent: Defence Estate (Ministry of Defence)
The Appellant was not present in person but submitted a written
submission for consideration.
On behalf of the Respondents, Shri Rattan Singh, was present.
The brief facts of the case are as under.
2. The Appellant had requested the CPIO on 11 May 2007 for a
number of information in respect of one Sri VK Sood, Ex-SDO of DEO
Chandigarh. The CPIO in his reply dated 8 June 2007, denied the
information on the ground that it was personal information and was
exempt under Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Not
satisfied with this reply, the Appellant preferred an appeal before the
first Appellate Authority on 12 June 2007. The appeal was decided by
the first Appellate Authority on 30 March 2009. The first Appellate
Authority directed the CPIO to provide a number of information
previously denied by the CPIO and also directed him to allow inspection
of some of the records as desired by the Appellant. She, however,
declined to disclose some other information on the ground that the
information sought was personal in nature and there was no compelling
public interest in disclosing the same. In the meanwhile, the Appellant
had already come before the CIC in Second Appeal.
3. During the hearing, the Appellant was not present. He has sent a
written communication to the CIC seeking exemption from personal
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presence. He has also provided written comments on the order of the
first Appellate Authority. We agree with the Appellant that the first
Appellate Authority has indeed taken more than 19 months to dispose off
the appeal preferred by the Appellant. This is absolutely not acceptable
and is totally against the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act
which lays down a strict time limit for disposing off first appeals. We
strongly advise the first Appellate Authority concerned to be careful in
future and not defeat the purpose of the Right to Information (RTI) Act
by such inordinate delay. We also note that the first Appellate Authority
had not given any time schedule within which the CPIO was to provide
the information to the Appellant.
4. We have carefully examined the directions given by the first
Appellate Authority to the CPIO for both providing information and for
allowing inspection of records. While we agree with the first Appellate
Authority in respect of her conclusions on items 7(d) and (e) and 8 of the
Appellant’s original application for information, we feel that the
inspection sought at item number 7(g), namely, the file containing the
pay details and the TDS deducted by the employer in respect of the
employee concerned should also be allowed. The pay and salary
disbursed to an employee and the income tax deducted at source is
information which must be placed in the public domain. We, therefore,
direct the CPIO that in addition to the information to be provided in
compliance with the orders of the first Appellate Authority, he must
allow the Appellant to inspect the files regarding the salary disbursed to
Sri V.K. Sood and the TDS deducted from his salary for the last 10 years
on a date convenient to both the CPIO and the Appellant within 30
working days from the receipt of this Order. Since the first Appellate
Authority had not fixed any time limit for the supply of information to
the Appellant, we further direct that the CPIO must provide the
information as directed by the first Appellate Authority to the Appellant
within 10 working days from the receipt of our Order unless, of course,
CIC/WB/A/2007/01184-SM
he had already provided the information to the Appellant.
5. With the above observations and directions, we dispose of this
appeal.
6. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
(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/2007/01184-SM