Central Information Commission
Mr.A A Khan vs Coal India Limited on 29 January, 2013
Central Information Commission
Room No. 305, 2nd Floor, 'B' Wing, August Kranti Bhavan,
Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi110066
Web: www.cic.gov.in Tel No: 26167931
Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001007
Dated: 29.01.2013
Name of Appellant : Shri A.A. Khan
Name of Respondent : Coal India Ltd., Kolkata
Date of Hearing : 23.01.2013
ORDER
Shri A.A. Khan, hereinafter called the appellant, has filed the present appeal dated 21.12.2011 before the Commission against the respondent Coal India Ltd. (CIL), Kolkata for not providing information in reply to his RTI- application dated 19.8.2011. The appellant was absent whereas the respondent were represented by Shri D. Prasad, GM/FAA, Shri MB. Aparajit, GM/CPIO, Shri B. Swaroop, GM and Shri M.S. Prasad, CM (P & R).
2. The appellant through his RTI application dated 19.8.2011 sought information in respect of names of Invigilators, the date of appointment, basic pay etc. The CPIO vide his letter No. 1033 dated 26.9.2011 informed the appellant as follows, "since selection process of the departmental selection in different discipline for which written test was held on 14.8.2011 has not been completed and as such information cannot be provided at this stage".
3. Aggrieved with the reply of the CPIO, the appellant preferred first appeal on 13.10.2011 before the FAA. The FAA vide his order No. 560/APP/CIL/ 2011/ 1531 dated 25.1.2012 rightly agreed with the appellant that since the 2 Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001007 examination is already over, there should be no reservation of declaring names of the Invigilators and other details.
4. During the hearing the respondent CPIO states that in compliance with the directions of the FAA, the CPIO vide letter dated 28.7.2012 requested the concerned agency M/s. CMC Ltd., Kolkata, with whom the CIL had entered into a contract for the conduct of the examination, for furnishing centre-wise list of Invigilators engaged by them. Meanwhile, an interim response was also given to the appellant by the CPIO vide letter dated 10.8.2012 that a request has been made to the concerned agency to send centre-wise list of Invigilators and the same would be provided as soon as it is received from the agency. Finally, the CMC Ltd. informed the CPIO vide letter dated 10.1.2013 as follows: "Centre-wise names of the Invigilators are not available with us as we never keep the record of the persons who are engaged by the respective centres only. This is completely the internal matter of the respective schools or colleges in selecting the Invigilators". The CPIO vide his letter dated 17.1.2013 apprised the appellant of the status in the matter.
5. The Commission is the view that the respondent can only provide information which is held by or under the control of the public authority. Since the aforementioned examination had been outsourced to a private party i.e. M/s. CMC Ltd., Kolkata and the private party has also expressed their inability to provide the information since the requisite information is also not held by them, the Commission finds no reason to disagree with the reply of the respondent.
The matter is disposed of on the part of the Commission.
(Sushma Singh) Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy:
3 Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001007(K.K. Sharma) OSD & Deputy Registrar Address of the parties:
Shri A.A. Khan, B-168, Vasasnt Vihar, Bilaspur-495006 (Chattisgarh) The CPIO, Coal India Ltd., 10, Netaji Subhas Road, Kolkata-700001.
The First Appellate Authority, Coal India Ltd., 15, Park Street, 2nd Floor, Kolkata-700016.