Anupam Mahajan vs Chief Commissioner Of Income Tax (Cca), ... on 24 February, 2021

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Central Information Commission

Anupam Mahajan vs Chief Commissioner Of Income Tax (Cca), ... on 24 February, 2021

Bench: Neeraj Kumar Gupta

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

ि तीय अपील सं या/Second Appeal No. CIC/CCITB/A/2019/129322

Anupam Mahajan                                         ... अपीलकता/Appellant
                                  VERSUS
                                   बनाम
CPIO                                                   ... ितवादी /Respondent
O/o. the Director of Income Tax
(CPC), Bangalore

Relevant dates emerging from the appeal:

RTI : 16-02-2019           FA     : 22-04-2019         SA       : 19-06-2019

CPIO : 12-04-2019          FAO : 20-05-2019            Hearing : 18-02-2021

                                  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 Director of Income Tax (CPC), Bangalore seeking following information:-

1. "Kindly provide accessing computer source code / computer network computer database or IP Address from which my income tax account with PAN No. AKZPA7445A was accessed between 01.01.2016 to 31.12.2017?

2. Kindly provide accessing location of computer source code/computer network computer database or IP Address from which my income tax account with PAN No. AKZPA7445A is accessed between 01.01.2016 to 31.12.2017 as per the format such as PAN card, IP address, region or location, computer device & computer network?

Etc."

2. The CPIO responded on 12-04-2019. The appellant filed the first appeal dated 22-04-2019 which was disposed of by the first appellate authority on 20- 05-2019. 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. Anupam Mahajan attended the hearing through audio conferencing. Ms. Rajamatangi, CPIO participated in the hearing representing the respondent through audio conferencing. The written submissions are taken on record.

4. The appellant contended that he is seeking information regarding tampering of his own PAN account and therefore, the sought for information should be provided to him.

5. The respondent contended that the information in the manner sought by the appellant requires compilation and analysis of data. If the applicant feels that there has been some foul play with respect to operation of his filing account, he may approach the nearest cyber-crime police station and register a formal complaint by giving the facts. On receipt of a formal request from such police authorities, the matter may be investigated.

Decision:

6. This Commission further observes that the CPIO is obliged to provide the information to the extent it is available in their records. If the information in the manner sought by the appellant is not available, there is no bounden duty of the CPIO to create any fresh compilation for non-existent records. In the present case, the CPIO has categorically submitted that no such compilation is readily available and hence, it cannot be supplied to the appellant. This legal principle is supported by the decision dated 07-01-2016 of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in LPA 24/2015 & CM No. 965/2015 titled as The Registrar of Supreme Court of India v. Commodore Lokesh K Batra & Ors., wherein, it was held as under:-

"15. On a combined reading of Section 4(1)(a) and Section 2(i), it appears to us that the requirement is only to maintain the records in a manner which facilitates the right to information under the Act. As already noticed above, "right to information"

under Section 2(j) means only the right to information which is held by any public authority. We do not find any other provision under the Act under which a direction can be issued to the public authority to collate the information in the manner in which it is sought by the applicant."

7. In view of the foregoing, the CPIO is directed to send a revised reply to the appellant as per para 5 above, within a period of 15 working days from the date of receipt of this order.

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

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


                                                             नीरज कु मार गु ा)
                                       Neeraj Kumar Gupta (नीरज             ा
                                     Information Commissioner (सूसूचना आयु )
                                                    दनांक / Date : 18-02-2021
Authenticated true copy
(अिभ मािणत स यािपत  ित)

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


Addresses of the parties:

1.    CPIO
      O/o. the Director of Income Tax (CPC)

48/1 & 48/2, Prestige Alpha, Beratena Agrahara Electronic City, Hosur Road, Bangalore-560500

2. Anupam Mahajan Page 3 of 3

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