Central Information Commission
Saurabh Chawla vs Department Of Agriculture & ... on 15 May, 2023
Author: Saroj Punhani
Bench: Saroj Punhani
के ीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबागंगनाथमाग, मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई द ली, New Delhi - 110067
File No : CIC/DOA&C/A/2022/626757
Saurabh Chawla ......अपीलकता/Appellant
VERSUS
बनाम
CPIO,
Ministry of Cooperation, RTI
Cell, Atal Akshya Urja Bhawan,
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
Behind INA Building, New
Delhi-110003. .... ितवादीगण /Respondent
Date of Hearing : 09/05/2023
Date of Decision : 09/05/2023
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER : Saroj Punhani
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 18/01/2022
CPIO replied on : Not on record
First appeal filed on : 18/02/2022
First Appellate Authority order : Not on record
Second Appeal dated : 04/04/2022
Information sought:
The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 18.01.2022 seeking the following information:1
"The following Information is sought w.r.t. Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd. (hereinafter referred as ACCSL) which is subject to various legal proceedings in the courts and is currently under liquidation: -
1. Please provide the status of liquidation of ACCSL as per the last report submitted by the Liquidator with complete details.
2. Please provide the details of cases / investigation by SFIO and IT department against ACCSL and their status as per your reports.
3. Please provide the legal or any other proceedings initiated by your department/Ministry/Liquidator against ACCSL and their status.
4. Please provide the value of total assets of ACCSL as on date as per the valuation report available in your records.
5. Please provide the details of total liability of ACCSL as available in your records. Please provide individual details of various liabilities.
6. Please provide the provisions of law/rules applicable with ACCSL w.r.t. preferences to payments to various liabilities of ACCSL.
7. Please provide the provisions of law/rules applicable with ACCSL w.r.t. proportion of payments in terms of liability versus assets of ACCSL.
8. Please provide the provisions of law/rules applicable with ACCSL w.r.t. submission of claim by a depositor is enough to seek payment. What is the process to know that his/her name is included in the list of beneficiaries after submission of claim to the Liquidator?
9. Please provide the process of liquidation till dispersal of payments to its depositors.
10. There have been orders by the Hon'ble Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur in multiple writ petitions to release payments to its depositors within 90 days of its order. Please provide details if any such payments been released in compliance of aforesaid orders. Or if your department/Ministry/Liquidator is under process to release any such payments in compliance with such orders.2
11. Please provide details of any specific information centers where the status of liquidation w.r.t. ACCSL can be sought.
12. Please provide details of any payments made to the liabilities of ACCSL after initiation of liquidation. If so, please provide the criteria of such payments."
Having not received any response from the CPIO, the appellant filed a First Appeal dated 18.02.2022. FAA's order, if any, is not available on record.
Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied, appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:-
Appellant: Present through audio-conference.
Respondent: Kuldeep Singh, Sr. Statistical Officer & CPIO present through intra- video/audio conference.
The Appellant while reiterating the contents of RTI Application expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that no substantial information has been provided to him till date. He further while narrating his grievance regarding the Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society Ltd apprised that this Society is subject to various legal proceedings in the courts and is currently under liquidation. He has not received any information sought about the status of the liquidation case as also about the provisions of law/rules applicable with the Society w.r.t. submission of claim by a depositor to seek payment etc. In response to Appellant's contentions, the CPIO submitted that a reply has already been provided to the Appellant 20.01.2023 on the following lines:
"...Point No. 1 to 12: As per record, winding up order of Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. has been issued and Shri H.S. Patel, Liquidator, Plot No. 338, Sector No. 8-B, CH Road, Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat- 382007. E-mail: [email protected] has been appointed as liquidator of the Society and correspondence address of the liquidator is: Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., 14, Vidhya Vihar Colony, Usmanpura. Opposite Hotel Fortune, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380013. Further, as per the provisions of the 3 MSCS,2002, the information regarding number of members and their deposits are not required to maintain in this Department. Required information is not available in this office. You are requested to kindly contact Shri H.S. Patel, Liquidator. Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Multi State cooperative societies are registered under the provisions of MSCS Act, 2002 in the office of Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Ministry of Cooperation and are required to function as per the provisions of MSCS Act, 2002 & rules made thereunder and its approved bye-laws. As on date 81 Multi State cooperative societies are under liquidation process in India. The Liquidator is responsible for the realization of Assets and settlement of liabilities. As per record, winding up order of Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. has been issued and Shri H.S. Patel, Liquidator, Plot No. 338, Sector No. 8-B, CH Road, Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat- 382007. E-mail: [email protected] has been appointed as liquidator of the Society and correspondence address of the liquidator is: Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., 14, Vidhya Vihar Colony, Usmanpura, Opposite Hotel Fortune, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad-380013. Further, as per the provisions of the MSCS 2002, the information regarding number of members and their deposits are not required to maintain in this Department. Required information is not available in this office. You are requested to kindly contact Shri H.S. Patel, Liquidator, Adarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Ahmedabad, Gujarat."
To a query from the Commission regarding delay in reply, the CPIO tendered his unconditional apology and explained that due to reorganization of Ministry of Agriculture into two separate Ministries; access to online RTI portal to the Respondent organization was delayed which resultantly caused delay in reply.
To a further query from the Commission, the Appellant affirmed the receipt of the averred reply; however, he is aggrieved with the fact that a point wise reply with the desired information is yet to be supplied by the CPIO.
Decision:
The Commission at the outset adversely viewed the casual conduct of the concerned then CPIO in not responding to impugned RTI Application within the stipulated time frame as envisaged under the RTI Act. Further, the reasons accorded by the CPIO for the said omission regarding the non-access of login ID and password for online RTI portal due to reorganisation is rather irksome to note 4 as it was incumbent upon the public authority to proactively maintain/access the RTI database and to ensure that RTI Applications are dealt with in a time bound manner. If the RTI Applications received are not attended to for the simple reason that it remained unattended due to technical issues, the very purpose of filing RTI Application would be rendered obsolete.
In view of the above, the present CPIO (to whom RTI Application has been transferred as per action history of online portal on 27.10.2022) is hereby directed to file a written submission explaining categorically the reason for delay in giving reply after expiry of stipulated time. The said written submission of the CPIO along with supportive documents, if any, should reach the Commission within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.
Further, considering the Appellant's prayer, the CPIO is directed to revisit the contents of RTI Application and provide a revised point wise categorical reply along with relevant available information as per the provisions of RTI Act.
The above said reply should be provided by the CPIO free of cost to the Appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order under due intimation to the Commission.
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Saroj Punhani (सरोज पुनहािन) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयु ) Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स यािपत ित) (C.A. Joseph) Dy. Registrar 011-26179548/ [email protected] सी. ए. जोसेफ, उप-पंजीयक दनांक / 5