Central Information Commission
Shri Nandkishor Gupta vs North Western Railway on 18 November, 2008
Central Information Commission
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No.CIC/OK/A/2008/00804 & 01207
Dated: 18 November 2008
Name of the Appellant : Shri Nandkishor Gupta
S/o Late Shri G.D. Khandelwal
H.No.1/756, Malviya Nagar
Jaipur, 302017
Name of the Public Authority : North Western Railway
Background:
Shri Nand Kishore Gupta of Jaipur filed RTI-applications with the Public Information Officer, North Western Railway, Jaipur, on 11 February 2008 and 14 February 2008, wherein he wanted to know the compliance regarding the directives given in four circulars issued by the Railway Board.
2. The PIO vide his letters dated 19 February 2008 and 13 March 2008 replied to the RTI-applications. Not satisfied with the reply of the PIO, the Appellant filed appeals with the first Appellate Authority on 28 March 2008 and 12 April 2008 who vide his letters dated 1 May 2008 and 21 May 2009 replied to it. Thereafter, the Appellant approached the Central Information Commission with a Second Appeals on 20 May 2008 and 1 June 2008 which were registered in the Commission on 7 July 2008 and 11 October 2008 respectively.
3. The Bench of Dr. O.P. Kejariwal, Information Commissioner, heard the matter on 17 November 2008.
4. Shri Vijay Singh, Sr. DFM & PIO, Shri M.K. Sharma, APIO, Shri L.R. Meena, Sr. DPO, Shri Kamlesh and Shri R.K. Kashyap, OS I, represented the Respondents.
5. The Appellant, Shri Nand Kishore Gupta, was present in person.
Decision:
6. The Commission decided to club case Nos. 804 and 1207 as not only the Respondents and the Appellant were the same but the information asked for was also identical: the only difference being that in application no. 804 the information asked for was from NWR headquarters and in 1207 the Appellant had asked for the same items of information from the Railway Division, Jaipur. The following Order is therefore applicable to them of these cases.
7. The Commission heard both the sides and noted that in his RTI- applications the Appellant had referred to 4 Orders/directions issued by the Railway Board. In his application, he had also given specific numbers of these Circulars. He now wanted to know the compliance regarding the directives given in these four circulars. According to the Respondents, they had offered to the Appellant copies of two circulars but he refused to take them. For the other two circulars, they had forwarded his request to PIO, NWR, Jaipur. After hearing both the parties, the Commission could not come to a conclusion where the relevant circulars were offered to the Appellant, and why he should have refused to take them. Also according to him, the rest of the questions had been unanswered. The Commission directs the Respondents to provide to the Appellant point-wise answers to his RTI-applications and provide to him copies of the Circulars that he desires. In case they are not available, a written statement to the fact may be provided to the Appellant providing reasons as to why these copies cannot be provided. They may go through the other seven items and provide a written statement regarding the information and in case the information is not available, provide a written statement to the Appellant stating specifically as to why the information was not available. This may be done by 11 December 2008.
8. The Commission ordered accordingly.
(O.P. Kejariwal) Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy:
(G. Subramanian) Assistant Registrar Cc:
1. Shri Nandkishor Gupta, S/o Late Shri G.D. Khandelwal, H.No.1/756, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur, 302017
2. The Public Information Officer, North Western Railway, Headquarter Office, Hasanpura Road, Jaipur
3. The Appellate Authority, North Western Railway, Headquarter Office, Hasanpura Road, Jaipur
4. Officer Incharge, NIC
5. Press E Group, CIC