Central Information Commission
Appeal No.CIC/WB/C/2008/00508-SM dated 12.06.2006
Right to Information Act-2005-Under Section (19)
Dated 16.01.2009
Appellant: Shri Ramesh Yeshwant Wagh
Respondent: Department of Atomic Energy
Neither the Appellant nor the Respondent is present.
The Appellant had requested the CPIO, in his letter of 1st March, 2006,
seeking a large number of information regarding the Tata Memorial Centre
(TMC). It seems he did not receive a reply from the CPIO. Thereafter, he filed an
Appeal before the First Appellate Authority on 2nd April 2006 which that
authority disposed off by advising him that he should, in the first place, pay the
requisite fee before the PIO and remanded the Appeal to the PIO for further
necessary action. The PIO in the TMC informed the Appellant to deposit Rs. 500
towards the cost of the information sought in a letter dated 12.4.2006. The
Appellant sent a cheque for Rs. 500 to the PIO on 14.4.2006. It is not clear if the
PIO provided him with copies of the various documents he had sought for in his
original application. The Appellant has now come to this Commission in Second
Appeal.
2. During the hearing, neither the Appellant nor the Respondent was present
in spite of notice. We carefully examined the contents of the Appeal and the
various communications exchanged between the Appellant and the Respondent.
We note that the Appellant had indeed not paid the requisite fees at the time of
requesting for information, a mandatory requirement under the RTI Act. When
he deposited the fees as demanded by the CPIO, the CPIO should have given him
the information forthwith. There is no record on file to show if the CPIO
provided any information or not except that the Appellant had claimed not to
have received any response from the CPIO. We also note that the CPIO did not
file an Appeal before the First Appellate Authority against the non receipt of
information from the CPIO even after depositing the fees. He chose to come to
the Commission directly.
3. In view of the above, we remand this case to the first Appellate Authority
in the Department of Atomic Energy with the following directions:-
(i) That he should ensure that the information, if available, is provided
to the Appellant within 10 working days from the receipt of this
order.
(ii) He is also directed to report to us within 15 working days from the
receipt of this order as to why the CPIO did not provide the
information to the Appellant even after he deposited Rs.500/- by
way of fees in response to the demand raised by the CPIO.
(ii) The compliance of our order be reported to us immediately
thereafter.
4. With the above directions the Appeal is disposed off. 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.
Sd/-
(Vijay Bhalla)
Assistant Registrar