Central Information Commission
Chetan Yadav vs Central Ground Water Board on 29 July, 2022
Author: Saroj Punhani
Bench: Saroj Punhani
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबागंगनाथमाग , मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई द ली, New Delhi - 110067
File No : CIC/CGWBD/A/2021/657409
Chetan Yadav ......अपीलकता /Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO,
Central Ground Water Board,
North Central Region, RTI Cell,
Blcok-1, 4th Floor, Paryawas Bhawan 38,
Arera Hills Road, Bhopal - 462011,
Madhya Pradesh. .... ितवादीगण /Respondent
Date of Hearing : 28/07/2022
Date of Decision : 28/07/2022
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER : Saroj Punhani
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 06/07/2021
CPIO replied on : Not on record
First appeal filed on : 02/09/2021
First Appellate Authority order : Not on record
2nd Appeal/Complaint dated : 29/11/2021
Information sought:
The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 06.07.2021 seeking the following information:
"1. Please provide year-wise information pertaining to the list of all the over- exploited areas in Madhya Pradesh from the year 2017 till date.1
2. Please provide information relating to the groundwater level in Dewas district from the year 2017 till date.
3. Please provide year-wise information on the number of borewells/tubewells that were in existence in Dewas at the beginning of each year from January 2017 till date?
4. Please provide information pertaining to the approvals/permissions granted by CGWA for digging of new borewells/tubewells during the period 1 January 2017 till date. Please provide year-wise break-up and copies of the permission granted.
5. How much quantity of water was available with local government agencies for supply to various industries situated in Dewas from 1 January 2017 till date? Please provide year-wise break up along with the list of the agencies.
6. Please provide documents pertaining to the quantity of water which was supplied by local government agencies to the industries situated in Dewas during the period 01 January 2017 till date. Please provide year-wise break up.
7. Please provide documents pertaining to the quantity of groundwater that was withdrawn by the industries situated in Dewas from 1 January 2017 till date. Please provide year-wise break up.
8. Provide list of industries situated in Dewas who applied to CGWA for NOC for withdrawal of ground water from 1 January 2017 till date? Please provide year-wise break of the list of industries.
9. Please provide documents NOCs/approval pertaining to the industries situated in Dewas who were granted NOC by CGWA for withdrawal/extraction of ground water from 1 January 2017till date?
10. Please provide list of industries situated in Dewas who were not granted NOC by CGWA for withdrawal/extraction of groundwater from 1 January 2017till date? Please provide year-wise break up.
11. How many NOCs with respect to the industries situated in Dewas were renewed by CGWA during the period from 1 January 2017 till date? Please provide year wise break up along with copies of the renewed NOCs.2
12. How many industries situated in Dewas were refused renewal of NOC by CGWA from 1 January 2017 till date? Please provide year-wise break up along with a list of such industries.
13. Please provide documents pertaining to the reasons for not granting renewal of NOCs to the industries situated in Dewas during the years 1 January 2017 till date?
14. Please provide copies of all the applications made by the industries situated in Dewas to CGWA from 1 January 2017 to 31 May 2019, year wise, for NOC along with the documents submitted by these industries.
15. Whether the industries situated in Dewas seeking NOC for withdrawal of ground water during the period 1 January 2017 to 31 May 2019, had submitted status report stating the quantum of water required and the quantity that would be provided by the Government Water Supplying agency along with a letter from the agency? Please provide copies of these status reports year wise.
16. Whether the application for NOC by the industries situated in Dewas for groundwater withdrawal during the years 1 January 2017 to 31 May 2019, were supported by referral letters from the statutory authority (Central and State Govt. Departments and Agencies like State Pollution Control Board, Industries Department, Industrial Development Authority etc.)? Please provide copies of these referral letters, year wise.
17. Pursuant to the CGWA notification which came into effect from 1 June 2019, were the applications for NOC accompanied by the following documents:
i. Approval in the form of Terms of Reference/ Consent to Establish/ License issued by statutory bodies viz. Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) or State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) or State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) or State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SLEIAA) or Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) or Department of Industries or any other authority mandated by Central or State Government. ii. A valid Consent to Operate issued by the Industry Department/ Pollution Control Board/ copy of application submitted for renewal of Consent to Operate. I 3 ii. Certificate regarding non / partial availability of fresh water / treated waste water supply from the concerned government agency in cases where requirement of ground water is more than 10 m3/day.
iv. An affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper of Rs. 10/-regarding non availability of water supply from government agencies in cases where ground water requirement is up to 10 m3/day.
v. Water quality data of bore well/ tube well / dug well in respect of existing industries from NABL accredited laboratory.
Please provide copies of all the applications made by the industries situated in Dewas, after 1 June 2019 till date along with the documents submitted by these industries in a year wise manner.
18. Whether all NOC holders of ground water withdrawal of the industries situated in Dewas have recorded monthly water flow meter readings and reports of ground water extraction and submitted the same to CGWA? Please provide year-wise readings and reports from 1 June 2019 till date.
19. Whether industries situated in Dewas have undertaken water audit through CII/FICCl/NPC certified auditors and submitted the same to CGWA? Please provide year-wise water audit reports from 1 June 2019 till date.
20. How many industries situated in Dewas have installed digital water level recorder in the observation wells for monitoring of ground water levels? Please provide year-wise details from 1 June 2019 till date.
21. Was the data retrieved from digital water level recorder submitted by the industries situated in Dewas to the CGWA regularly from 1 June 2019 till date? Please provide year wise data.
22. Did all industries situated in Dewas collect water sample from borewells/tubewells and get the same analyzed from NABL accredited industries and submit the water quality data to CGWA from 1 June 2019 till date? Please provide year-wise data of the water quality.
23. Please provide a year wise list of ground water users i.e the industries situated in Dewas who paid water conservation fee from 1 June 2019 till date.
24. Please provide a year wise list of the amount of water conservation fee collected by CGWA from the ground water users between 1 June 2019 till date.4
25. Please provide copies of the Water Audit Report of CGWA for the State of Madhya Pradesh for the years 2017 to 2021.
26. Whether all industries situated in Dewas to whom NOCs have been granted for ground water withdrawal have been complying with terms of NOCs/CGWA guidelines at all times?
27. Whether any action has been taken against any of the industries situated in Dewas for non-compliance of NOC terms from 1 January 2017 till date? Please provide year-wise details of any action taken .
28. Whether CGWA has carried out any inspection from 1 January 2017 till date to identify operation of ground water extraction without the NOC? Also let us know at what internals such inspections were carried out. Please provide year-wise details and reports of such inspection.
29. Whether CGWA has taken any action against the industries situated in Dewas drawing ground water without NOC during the period 1 January 2017 till date? Please provide a list of such industries and the action taken by CGWA, on a year wise basis.
30. Whether CGWA has been carrying out any study/ observation to determine the status of ground water in Dewas and report/ result/ observation sheet has been prepared for the same? Please provide copies of such study/observation in a year-wise manner from 1 January 2017 till date."
Having not received any response from the CPIO, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 02.09.2021. FAA's order, if any, is not available on record.
Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the non-receipt of information, the appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:-
Appellant: Not present.
Respondent: S. K. Srivastava, Scientist D & CPIO present through video- conference.5
The CPIO submitted that a reply was furnished to the Appellant on 13.07.2021 through speed post with a request to pay additional fees of Rs. 960/- for 480 pages of relevant information; however, the said reply was received back undelivered with the remarks "addressee not available". Later, upon receipt of First Appeal, one more attempt was made to send the same reply on 07.09.2021 via speed post but again the letter/reply was received back undelivered with the ा कता भोपाल चले गए ह ". He further submitted that he tried to contact remarks " ा कता the Appellant through mobile also but it was engaged perpetually. In response to it, the Commission apprised the CPIO that the hearing notice of the instant case has; however, been delivered to the Appellant at the same address, therefore, this contention is not acceptable.
Lastly, at the behest of the Commission, the CPIO agreed to make another attempt to contact the Appellant at his given mobile number and also to offer an opportunity of inspection of relevant records to him.
Decision:
The Commission at the outset observes from a perusal of the facts on record that the information sought for in the RTI Application is extremely unspecific/ cumbersome and does not even conform to the word limit of 500 as prescribed in Rule 3 of RTI Rules, 2012. As it appears it would be impossible for the public authorities to provide information of such magnitude in any form and will be further unreasonable to expect the CPIOs to correctly apply their mind to decipher what information can be provided or what should be exempted. Moreover, in the instant RTI Application, the Appellant has sought for a multitude of details related to the personal records of various third parties, which would stand exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
Even if the Commission were to empathetically consider the concerns raised by the Appellant during hearing, he is reminded of the fact that his right to information is far from being absolute and unconditional. That, it is rather unfortunate that even the best of intentions have to not only stand the test of procedural requirements and fetters laid down in the RTI Act but also stand the test of practicality, a notion well recognised by the superior Courts in a catena of judgments such as the Hon'ble Supreme Court's observation in the matter of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) & Anr. v. Aditya Bandhopadhyay and others [(2011) 8 SCC 497] stating that:6
"37. The right to information is a cherished right. Information and right to information are intended to be formidable tools in the hands of responsible citizens to fight corruption and to bring in transparency and accountability.
The provisions of RTI Act should be enforced strictly and all efforts should be made to bring to light the necessary information under clause (b) of section 4(1) of the Act which relates to securing transparency and accountability in the working of public authorities and in discouraging corruption. But in regard to other information,(that is information other than those enumerated in section 4(1)(b) and (c) of the Act), equal importance and emphasis are given to other public interests (like confidentiality of sensitive information, fidelity and fiduciary relationships, efficient operation of governments, etc.). Indiscriminate and impractical demands or directions under RTI Act for disclosure of all and sundry information (unrelated to transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities and eradication of corruption) would be counter-productive as it will adversely affect the efficiency of the administration and result in the executive getting bogged down with the non- productive work of collecting and furnishing information.
The Act should not be allowed to be misused or abused, to become a tool to obstruct the national development and integration, or to destroy the peace, tranquility and harmony among its citizens. Nor should it be converted into a tool of oppression or intimidation of honest officials striving to do their duty. The nation does not want a scenario where 75% of the staff of public authorities spends 75% of their time in collecting and furnishing information to applicants instead of discharging their regular duties. The threat of penalties under the RTI Act and the pressure of the authorities under the RTI Act should not lead to employees of a public authorities prioritising 'information furnishing', at the cost of their normal and regular duties."
Having observed as above, the Commission hereby advises the Appellant to make judicious use of his right to information in future.
Notwithstanding the aforesaid, by taking liberal view in the matter and in furtherance of hearing proceedings, the CPIO is hereby directed to offer an opportunity of inspection of the relevant and make available records related to the instant RTI Application to the Appellant on a mutually decided date and time. The intimation of the date & time of inspection will be provided to the Appellant telephonically and in writing by the CPIO. Copy of documents, as identified and desired by the Appellant shall be provided free of cost upto 50 pages and 7 thereafter upon receipt of RTI fees as per RTI Rules, 2012 be provided by the CPIO.
The CPIO is also directed to ensure that due assistance is provided to the Appellant during the inspection in accessing and identifying the records. The said direction should be complied with by the CPIO within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order and a compliance report to this effect should be sent to the Commission by the CPIO incorporating the details of the records provided for the inspection and copies thereof, immediately thereafter.
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Saroj Punhani (सरोजपुनहािन) हािन) Information Commissioner (सूचनाआयु ) Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स#यािपत ित) (C.A. Joseph) Dy. Registrar 011-26179548/ [email protected] सी. ए. जोसेफ, उप-पंजीयक दनांक / 8