Ashok Pal Dhangar vs Ministry Of Social Justice & ... on 6 August, 2020

[Cites 3, Cited by 0]

Central Information Commission

Ashok Pal Dhangar vs Ministry Of Social Justice & ... on 6 August, 2020

Bench: Neeraj Kumar Gupta

                              के न्द्रीय सूचना आयोग
                     Central Information Commission
                          बाबा गंगनाथ मागग, मुननरका
                      Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
                      नई दिल्ली, New Delhi - 110067

नितीय अपील संख्या/Second Appeal No. CIC/MOSJE/A/2018/169708

Ashok Pal Dhangar                                         ... अपीलकताग /Appellant
                                     VERSUS
                                      बनाम
CPIO, Ministry Of Social Justice &                          ...प्रनतवािी /Respondent
Empowerment, New Delhi.

Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:

RTI : 10-07-2018            FA     : Undated             SA : 29-11-2018

CPIO : Not on Record        FAO : Not on Record          Hearing : 28-07-2020

                                     ORDER

1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Ministry Of Social Justice & Empowerment, New Delhi seeking following information:-

1. "District-wise population of Dhangar caste.

2. Gram Panchayat-wise population of Dhangar caste in Badaun district including names of the persons thereof.

3. Caste-wise names of the scheduled caste population of Sikari village as per the census of 2011.

4. Caste/sub-caste of Mr. Subhash Chandra enlisted at sy. no. 770 on page 18 of IPPE2:SECC List."

2. As the CPIO had not given a reply to the appellant within a period of 30 days, he filed an undated first appeal which was not disposed of by the first appellate authority. Thereafter, he filed a second appeal u/Section 19(3) of the RTI Act before the Commission requesting to take appropriate legal action against the CPIO u/Section 20 of the RTI Act, 2005 and also to direct him to provide the sought for information.

Page 1 of 3

Hearing:

3. The appellant, Mr. Ashok Pal Dhangar attended the hearing through audio conferencing. Mr. B P Meena, Under Secy./CPIO participated in the hearing representing the respondent through audio conferencing. The written submissions are taken on record.

4. The appellant stated no information has been provided to him till date and therefore, an appropriate legal action should be initiated against the CPIO u/Section 20 of the RTI Act, 2005. Further, he submitted that the sought for information should be provided to him.

5. The respondent could not connect with the contents of the RTI application and further submitted that it was not received by the public authority. Decision:

6. This Commission observes that Mr. B P Meena, Under Secy./CPIO could not relate to the facts of the case and has instead claimed that the RTI application was not received by the public authority. In this regard, the public authority is advised to conduct an administrative enquiry in the matter regarding non-receipt of the RTI application and should consider taking a suitable action against the responsible official. The lackadaisical approach of the respondent in the matter is strongly deprecated. This Commission hopes that the public authority will take appropriate steps to improve its functioning so that recurrence of such incident is avoided in future. If the RTI application was not received prior to receipt of the hearing notice of the Commission, the CPIO is directed to furnish an affidavit of this effect to the appellant, within a period of 15 working days from the date of receipt of this order.

7. Mr. B P Meena, Under Secy./CPIO has neither uploaded his written submissions on the given web-link nor has bothered to send a timely reply to the appellant. It appears that the CPIO is not well versed with the procedural requirements of the RTI Act, 2005. Therefore, he is warned to exercise due care for future to ensure that the correct and complete information is furnished timely to the RTI applicant as per the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 failing which penal proceedings under Section 20 may be initiated in future.

8. The CPIO is further directed to send a point-wise reply to the appellant with reference to the RTI application as per the RTI Act, 2005, within a period of 15 working days from the date of receipt of this order.

9. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.

Page 2 of 3

10. Copy of the decision be provided free of cost to the parties.

Neeraj Kumar Gupta (नीरज कु मार गुप्ता) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयुक्त) दिनाां क / Date: 28-07-2020 Authenticated true copy (अनिप्रमानित सत्यानपत प्रनत) S. C. Sharma (एस. सी. शमाा), Dy. Registrar (उप-पंजीयक), (011-26105682) Addresses of the parties:

1. The CPIO, Ministry Of Social Justice & Empowerment, Shastri Bhawan, C-Wing, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi.

2. Shri Ashok Pal Dhangar Page 3 of 3

Unlock Advanced Research with PRISMAI

Central Information Commission