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Central Information Commission

Mr.K S Vasudevan vs Ministry Of Law And Justice on 9 September, 2011

                          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/2011/000828

Name of Appellant                       :       Shri K.S. Vasudevan

Name of Respondent                      :     Ministry of Law & Justice,
                                        Department of Legal Affairs

Date of Hearing                         :       25.08.2011

                                            ORDER

Shri K.S. Vasudevan, the appellant has filed this appeal dated 21.12.2010 before the Commission against the Ministry of Law & Justice, Department of Legal Affairs, New Delhi for not providing information to his RTI-request dated 4.9.2010. The matter came up for hearing on 25.08.2011. The appellant vide letter dated 11.8.2011 (received through fax) sought exemption from personal appearing, which was granted to him, whereas the respondents were represented by Shri Nirmal Singh, CPIO, Shri O.P. Bagri, CAPIO and Shri Jagdish Kumar, S.O.

2. The appellant filed RTI-request dated 4.9.2010 seeking information on two queries

- 1(a) Whether it is mandatory and compulsory to continue the proceedings initiated by the Department when the criminal case is pending before any court of law against those officers; 1(b) Whether the judgements cited are binding on the Department or not; 2(i) If yes, then whether instructions have been issued by the Law Ministry to other Departments for keeping such cases in abeyance or not; and 2(ii) If not please cite the rules under which the Departmental proceedings can be conducted over-riding the above judgements. The CPIO vide letter No. 21(1114)/2010-IC dated 23.9.2010 informed the appellant that the RTI Act extends only to seeking information as defined in Section 2(f) of the RTI Act. The information sought amounts to seeking legal opinion and hence, the same is not covered within the ambit of the definition of 'information' as given under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act.

3. Aggrieved by reply of CPIO, the appellant preferred first-appeal before FAA 9.10.2010. The FAA vide order No. 23(147)/2010-IC dated 26.10.2010 upheld the reply of CPIO and dismissed appellant's first-appeal.

4. After hearing the respondent and on perusal of relevant documents, the Commission observes that the appellant sought legal opinion from respondent; the same is not covered within the ambit of the definition of 'information' as laid down in Section 2(f) of the RTI Act. The Commission finds no reason to disagree with the replies of respondent.

The matter is accordingly disposed of with above observation.

(Sushma Singh) Information Commissioner 09.09.2011 Authenticated true copy:

(K.K. Sharma) OSD & Deputy Registrar Address of the parties:

Shri K.S. Vasudevan, 503-B, Kaustub Apartment, Halar Road, Valsad-396001 (Gujarat) The CPIO, Ministry of Law & Justice, Department of Legal Affairs, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-110001.

The First Appellate Authority, Ministry of Law & Justice, Department of Legal Affairs, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-110001.