Nitin Verma vs Central Board Of Direct Taxes on 26 February, 2021

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Central Information Commission

Nitin Verma vs Central Board Of Direct Taxes on 26 February, 2021

Bench: Neeraj Kumar Gupta

                             के ीय सूचना आयोग
                    Central Information Commission
                         बाबा गंगनाथ माग, मुिनरका
                     Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
                     नई िद ी, New Delhi - 110067

ि तीय अपील सं     ा / Second Appeal No. CIC/CBODT/A/2017/604762

Nitin Verma                                             ... अपीलकता/Appellant

                                    VERSUS
                                     बनाम

CPIO                                                    ... ितवादी /Respondent
O/o. the Income Tax Officer,
Ward No. 3, Latur, Maharashtra

Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:

 RTI : 01-05-2017             FA    : 13-06-2017           SA       : 07-09-2017

 CPIO : Not on Record         FAO : Not on Record          Hearing : 23-02-2021

                                   ORDER

1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), O/o. the Income Tax Officer, Ward No. 3, Latur, Maharashtra. The appellant seeking information regarding income tax paid by Pandurang Abhimanyu Tandale and Anuradha Pandurang Tandale as per the format annexed with the RTI application, etc.

2. As the CPIO had not provided the requested information, the appellant filed the first appeal dated 13.06.2017 requesting that the information should be provided to him. The response of FAA is not on record. He filed a second appeal u/Section 19(3) of the RTI Act before the Commission on the ground that information has not been provided to him and requested the Commission to direct the respondent to provide complete and correct information.

Hearing:

3. The appellant was not present despite notice. The respondent, Shri Ramesh Waghmare, CPIO attended the hearing through audio-call.

4. The written submissions of the respondent are taken on record.

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5. The respondent submitted that the appellant has filed online RTI application and no reply was given to him, as the officials of their public authority is not aware about the usage of RTI online portal.

Decision:

6. The Commission, after hearing the submissions of the respondent and after perusal of records, observes that there is an online RTI application/appeal filing portal of every public authority in order to receive RTI applications/first appeals from the applicants. From the perusal of the records and also agreed by the respondent that they are not aware of the usage of the RTI online portal and no reply was given to him. The Commission further observed that it appears that the respondent public authority did not take effective steps to ensure that the RTI applications/first appeals are filed on their web portal. Further, they took no steps to access the RTI applications/first appeals which had already got filed on RTI portal, which may have resulted in piling up of the unattended RTI applications/first appeals. This is a serious lacuna on the part of the respondent public authority that RTI online portal is being ignored and the officials are not aware about the usage of the said portal. The Commission issued a strict warning to the respondent public authority that the online RTI applications of the applicants are being ignored and directed the Head of the Department of the respondent public authority to send a report to the Commission with respect to the disposal of online RTI applications and steps taken thereof.

7. The Commission observed that it appears that the respondent has till date has not given any reply/information to the appellant on his RTI application even after receipt of notice of second appeal. In fact, non-disposal of RTI applications in time bound manner attracts penal proceedings under the RTI Act.

8. The Commission is of the view that the respondent should launch a special drive and ensure disposal of the online RTI applications/first appeals within deadlines as prescribed under the RTI Act.

9. The Commission directs the respondent to give point-wise reply/information to the appellant on his RTI application dated 01.05.2017, as per the provisions of the RTI Act, within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.

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

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




                                                           नीरज कु मार गु ा)
                                       Neeraj Kumar Gupta (नीरज           ा
                                                               सूचना आयु )
                                     Information Commissioner (सू

                                                        दनांक / Date : 23-02-2021
Authenticated true copy
(अिभ मािणत स#ािपत ित)


S. C. Sharma (एस. सी. शमा),
Dy. Registrar (उप-पंजीयक),
(011-26105682)


Addresses of the parties:
1.    CPIO
      O/o. the Income Tax Officer, Ward No. 3
      Income Tax Bhawan, Swati Chambers
      Shivaji Chowk, Ausa Road, Latur
      Maharashtra-413512

2.    Nitin Verma




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