Central Information Commission
Hans Raj Kakar vs Life Insurance Corporation Of India on 25 August, 2025
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गंगनाथ माग, मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई िद ी, New Delhi - 110067
File No: CIC/LICOI/A/2024/107320
Hans Raj Kakar .....अपीलकता/Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
PIO,
Life Insurance Corporation of
India CRM Department,
Divisional Office, 1st Floor,
Jeevan Prakash, Model Town
Road, Jalandhar - 144001 .... ितवादीगण /Respondent
Date of Hearing : 06.08.2025
Date of Decision : 22.08.2025
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER : Vinod Kumar Tiwari
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 21.09.2023
CPIO replied on : 12.10.2023
First appeal filed on : 10.11.2023
First Appellate Authority's order : 29.11.2023
2nd Appeal/Complaint dated : 31.01.2024
Information sought:
1. The Appellant filed an (offline) RTI application dated 21.09.2023 seeking the following information:
"Kindly provide me the following information under Act RTI Act 2005.
1. Provide detail of all the agents who are club Members in Malout Branch for the last 10 Years From BM to CM Club Member, give their full address with Page 1 of 7 photo of office and size of office, detail of expenditure copies of expenses in register and date of visit of Branch Manager.
2. Provide detail of expenses of agents whose photos are printed on a flexi at the Outside boundary of LIC Office. Copies of Quotations for expenses and copies of original bills for the last 5 years.
3. Provide copies of bills of expenses for serving Tea by Branch Manager for last 10 years.
4. Provide copies of Bills of expenses with photos when there is meeting with agents in Branch or Hotel for the last 10 Years.
5. Who has given the Permission for Separate Counter in LIC Office for issuance of receipts which is setup for the last 2 years provide copy of That permission
6. Provide copy of status of club code 0062813W."
2. The CPIO furnished a point-wise reply to the Appellant on 12.10.2023 stating as under:
"Reply (to Query no. 1 & 2): You have sought voluminous and exhaustive information of details of all the Agents holding various Club Membership ie BM Club to CM club membership in Branch Office, Malout for the past 10 years specifying the name of the Agent, full address, photographs of the Agent's office, size of the Office, full record of expenses and dates of Branch Manager's visit to the Agent's Office.
The information sought above is not maintained separately as a Record in a compiled form, at a single point, as it is not mandated by any statutory requirement or by any law being in force and is not required for day-to-day working of the Branch Office of the respondent organisation. This office of Public Authority will have to collect and collate the voluminous and exhaustive information sought, in the format as sought, for the period from 2013 to 2023, which would disproportionately divert the resources of the respondent organization, attracting Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, 2005. It is pertinent to mention here that under the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, only such information as is available and existing and held by the office of Public Authority or is under the control of the Public Authority can be provided. Compiling the information sought for the sake of this RTI Application would amount to creation of a new record, which is not mandated under RTI Act, 2005. Hence, the information sought, as defined under Section 2(i) & 2(f) of the RT! Act, 2005 is not available.Page 2 of 7
Further, had the information been available in a compiled form, the information sought would have been exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1) (e) of the RTI Act, 2005 as the information sought is held in fiduciary capacity by the concerned Branch of the respondent organization and under Section 8(1) (j) of RTI Act, 2005 as the information sought is personal information of third party (ie Agents).
However, you are informed that reimbursement of expenses incurred by the Agent, on production of valid bills, is as per the pre-sanctioned and approved budget allotted to the Branch Office by the higher office. The copies of bills submitted by the Agents is exempt from disclosure as per Section and Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 being information held in fiduciary capacity and personal information of third party (Agents). 8(1)(e).
Reply (to Query no. 3 & 4): The information sought regarding details of expenses incurred for Tea served by the Branch Manager, Branch Office Malout and for meetings held at hotel or branch, for the past 10 years is not maintained separately as a Record in a compiled form, at a single point, as it is not mandated by any statutory requirement or by any law being in force and is not required for day-to-day working of the Branch Office of the respondent organisation. The expenses reimbursed are within the pre-sanctioned and approved budget allotted to the Branch Office.
Reply (to Query No.5): You are informed that as per the information received from the deemed PIO, there is no separate counter for issuing receipts in Branch Office, Malout.
Reply (to Query No.6): You are informed that Sh.Hans Raj Kakkar, Ag. Code No.0062813W is not a member of any club for the Membership Year 2022-23 & 2023-24 due to higher first year lapsation i.e. first year lapsation of the agent is more than 15% for three consecutive years in the Membership Year 2022-23. Certified Copy of the Club Member Agents roster for the Membership Year 2023-24 is being supplied free of cost, comprising of 3 pages (copy enclosed).
As the requisition fee under R.T.I. Act, 2005 is Rs.10/- only, an excess fee of Rs.100/- is refunded in your bank A/C No.083600101000578 of Union Bank of India, Malout through NEFT on 25.09.2023 and your self-addressed stamped envelope is returned herewith."
3. Being dissatisfied, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 10.11.2023. The FAA vide its order dated 29.11.2023, held as under:
"On perusing the RTI application, the CPIO's Reply and First Appeal, the appellant is informed that CPIO has aptly responded to the querries of the appellant.Page 3 of 7
I have once again referred the Appeal to the concerned Department. Based on the reply received from the concerned department and on perusing the RTI application dated 21.09.2023, the CPIO's reply dated 12.10.2023 and First Appeal dated 10.11.2023 and on revisitng the querries, it is reiterated that the information supplied by the CPIO dated 12.10.2023 is correct as per RTI Act, 2005. I hereby uphold the decision of CPIO dated 12.10.2023.
The First Appellate Authority observes that the CPIO is obliged to provide the information to the extent it is available in their records. If the information is not available, there is no bounden duty of the CPIO to create any fresh compilation for non-existent records. This legal principle is supported by the decision dated 07.01.2016 of the the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in LPA 24/2015 & CM No. 965/2015 titled as The Registrar of Supreme Court of India v. Commodore Lokesh K Batra & Ors., wherein, it was held as under:-
"15. On a combined reading of Section 4(1)(a) and Section 2(i), it appears to us that the requirement is only to maintain the records in a manner which facilitates the right to information under the Act. As already noticed above, "right to information" under Section 2(j) means only the right to information which is held by any public authority. We do not find any other provision under the Act under which a direction can be issued to the public authority to collate the information in the manner in which it is sought by the applicant."
With this Order, I dispose of the Appeal received on 14.11.2023 of Sh.Hans Raj Kakkar."
4. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied, appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
5. Proof of having served a copy of Second Appeal on Respondent while filing the same in CIC is not available on record.
Relevant Facts emerged during Hearing:
The following were present:-
Appellant: Present through VC.
Respondent: Shri Raman Kumar, CPIO-cum-Manager, attended the hearing through VC.
6. The Appellant stated that he is not satisfied with the reply provided by the Respondent qua the instant RTI Application.
7. The Respondent submitted that a suitable reply based on available records has been given to the Appellant vide letter dated 12.10.2023. He further reiterated the contents of his written submission.
Page 4 of 78. A written submission has been received from Shri Love Kumar Chugh, FAA-cum-Marketing Manager, vide letter dated 31.07.2025, a copy of the same has been sent to the Appellant and the same has been taken on record. The relevant extract of the same is as under:
"SUBMISSION BEFORE HON'BLE CIC:
As per above mentioned facts it's clear that the CPIO has provided point wise appropriate reply and certified copies of desired information to the query raised by the complainant in the RTI application and subsequent reply by First Appellate Authority in response to the First Appeal. Still on receipt of second Appeal, the CPIO has revisited the query raised by the appellant and to satisfy the appellant we are providing again the desired information as under:-
Query No.1 Provide details of all the agents who are club members in Branch Office, Malout in the last 10 years. From BM to CM club members, give their full address and copy with photo of the office and size of the office, full record of expenses, photocopies of details of expenses & date of Branch Manager visit.
Query No.2 Provide details of expenses of agents whose photographs are printed on flexi at the outside of boundary wall of LIC Office, Malout their quotations for each year's expenditure alongwith bills. Reply (to Query no. 1 & 2): it is informed that information sought is voluminous and exhaustive information of details of all the Agents holding various Club Membership i.e BM Club to CM club membership in Branch Office, Malout for the past 10 years specifying the name of the Agent, full address, photographs of the Agent's office, size of the Office, full record of expenses and dates of Branch Manager's visit to the Agent's Office.
The information sought above is not maintained separately as a Record in a compiled form, at a single point, as it is not mandated by any statutory requirement or by any law being in force and is not required for day-to-day working of the Branch Office of the respondent organization. This office of Public Authority will have to collect and collate the voluminous and exhaustive information sought, in the format as sought, for the period from 2013 to 2023, which would disproportionately divert the resources of the respondent organization, attracting Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, 2005. It is pertinent to mention here that under the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005, only such information as is available and existing and held by the office of Public Authority or is under the control of the Public Authority can be provided. Compiling the information sought for the sake of this RTI Application would amount to creation of a new record, which is not mandated under RTI Act, 2005. Hence, the information sought, as defined under Section 2(i) & 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005 is not available.
Further, had the information been available in a compiled form, the information sought would have been exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1) (e) of the RTI Act, 2005 as the information sought is held in fiduciary Page 5 of 7 capacity by the concerned Branch of the respondent organization and under Section 8(1) (j) of RTI Act, 2005 as the information sought is personal information of third party (ie Agents).
However, it is informed that reimbursement of expenses incurred by the Agent, on production of valid bills, is as per the pre-sanctioned and approved büdget allotted to the Branch Office by the higher office. The copies of bills submitted by the Agents is exempt from disclosure as per Section 8(1)(e) and Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005 being information held in fiduciary capacity and personal information of third party (Agents).
Query No.3 years. Provide details of expenses for tea served by Branch Manager for the last 10 Query No.4 Provide photographs along with expenses incurred bill for the meeting held at hotel or branch for the last 10 years.
Reply (to Query no. 3 & 4): The information sought regarding details of expenses incurred for Tea served by the Branch Manager, Branch Office Malout and for meetings held at hotel or branch, for the past 10 years is not maintained separately as a Record in a compiled form, at a single point, as it is not mandated by any statutory requirement or by any law being in force and is not required for day- to-day working of the Branch Office of the respondent organization. The expenses reimbursed are within the pre-sanctioned and approved budget allotted to the Branch Office.
Further our submission to Query No 1,2,3 and 4.:-
We may submit that such types of expenses are approved by Competent Authority. Branch is allowed to spend within the sanctioned budget and there are internal checks and controls to review of these aspects. Query No.5 Who has given permission for separate counter for issuing of receipts in LIC office for the last two years, provide copy of that permission. Reply (to Query No 5): It is informed that as per the information received from the deemed PIO, there is no separate counter for issuing receipts in Branch Office, Malout.
Further our submission to Query no.5.:-
We may submit that Corporation has the power to extend additional cash counter whenever needed due to rush. An unauthorized person is not allowed to collect the cash on the behalf of LIC of India in LIC Office. Query No.6 Provide photocopy of status of Club Member of Ag. Code No.0062813W.
Reply (to Query No 6) :It is informed that Sh. Hans Raj Kakkar, Ag. Code No.0062813W is not a member of any club for the Membership Year 2022-23 & 2023-24 due to higher first year lapsation i.e. first year lapsation of the agent is more than 15% for three consecutive years in the Membership Year 2022-23. Certified Copy of the Club Member Agents roster for the Membership Year 2023-24 is being supplied free of cost, comprising of 3 pages.Page 6 of 7
Further our submission to Query no.6:-
We may submit that The Appellant has already been provided certified copies of Club Member Agent's roster free of cost, comprising of 3 pages by CPIO reply dated 12.10.23 against his RTI application dated 21.09.23. Finally on perusal of the grounds of second Appeal, it is observed that the appellant has not brought any point for any valid reason. We humbly submit that complete and accurate information has been provided to the appellant as per the available record. The CPIO/FAA has provided all the information that is available in the record from on 12.10.2023 and 29.11.2023 respectively and no further information remain to be provided in this matter. In view of the above submission, we humbly request to Honorable Information Commissioner that the second appeal preferred by Sh.Hans Raj Kakkar may be dismissed summarily.
Hard copy of submission is being forwarded to the applicant by Speed Post dated 31.07.2025."
Decision:
9. The Commission after adverting to the facts and circumstances of the case, hearing both the parties and perusal of the records, observes that the Respondent has provided a suitable reply to the Appellant based on available records and under the provisions of the RTI Act only such information as is available and in the form held by the public authority or is under control of the public authority can be provided. The CPIO is neither supposed to create information that is not a part of the record, nor is he required to interpret information nor provide clarification. Therefore, no intervention of the Commission is required in the instant case for further adjudication.
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Vinod Kumar Tiwari (िवनोद कुमार ितवारी) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयु ) Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स!ािपत ित) (S. Anantharaman) Dy. Registrar 011- 26181927 Date Page 7 of 7 Recomendation(s) to PA under section 25(5) of the RTI Act, 2005:-
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