Central Information Commission
Gita Dewan Verma vs Ministry Of Home Affairs on 3 January, 2024
Author: Heeralal Samariya
Bench: Heeralal Samariya
के ीयसूचनाआयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबागंगनाथमाग , मुिनरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई द ली,
नई द ली New Delhi - 110067
ि तीय अपील सं या / Second Appeal No. CIC/MHOME/A/2022/622230
CIC/MHOME/A/2022/622229
CIC/MHOME/A/2022/622228
CIC/MHOME/A/2022/622227
CIC/MHOME/A/2022/622226
Ms. Gita Dewan Verma ... अपीलकता /Appellant
VERSUS/बनाम
PIO and DS DM-I, Ministry of Home Affairs ... ितवादीगण /Respondent
Date of Hearing : 05.12.2023
Date of Decision : 03.01.2024
Chief Information Commissioner : Shri Heeralal Samariya
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
Since both the parties are same, the above mentioned cases are clubbed
together for hearing and disposal.
Case RTI Filed CPIO reply First appeal FAO 2nd Appeal
No. on received on
622230 27.01.2022 09.03.2022 10.03.2022 06.04.2022 23.04.2022
622229 27.01.2022 09.03.2022 10.03.2022 05.04.2022 23.04.2022
622228 17.01.2022 09.03.2022 10.03.2022 05.04.2022 23.04.2022
622227 16.01.2022 23.03.2022 24.03.2022 05.04.2022 23.04.2022
622226 16.01.2022 23.03.2022 25.03.2022 05.04.2022 23.04.2022
Information soughtand background of the case:
(1) CIC/ MHOME/A/2022/622230 The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 27.01.2022 seeking information on the following:-
"Request for information about INTER MINISTERIAL CENTRAL TEAM (IMCT) mentioned in the document available on the RTI disclosure page at https://doe.gov.in/rti-information for proactive disclosure of Finance Page 1 of 13 Commission Division / entry no.12 dated 25/09/2018 (saying that the FCD dealswith IMCT visit to states etc) Please provide:
1. The URL at which information about IMCT (composition, functions, procedures, etc) is published on official website.
2. Copy/copies, preferably by e-mail, of the rule/regulation/order under which IMCT is constituted."
The CPIOand DS DM-I,, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide online reply dated 09.03.2022 intimated as under:-
"The primary responsibility for disaster management rests with the State Governments concerned. The State Governments undertake relief measures in the wake of natural disasters, from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), already placed at their disposal, in accordance with Government of India approved items and norms. Additional financial assistance is provided from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for providing immediate relief of temporary nature, as per laid down procedure in case of disaster of severe nature, which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT).
As per the procedure, prescribed in para 7.1(i) of the Guidelines for Constitution and Administration of NDRF, in the aftermath of natural calamity of severe nature an Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) will be constituted immediately by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which will visit the affected areas of the State so as to have the first hand assessment of damages caused and relief work carried out by the State administration. IMCT may again visit the State after submission of the Memorandum for detailed assessment for humanitarian needs towards response and relief of immediate/ temporary nature, for making final recommendations for allocation of additional funds from NDRF. The Guidelines for Constitution and Administration of NDRF is available at https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/images/gallery/Guidelines%20SDRF%20&%20NDRF.PD F"
Dissatisfied with the reply received from the CPIO the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 10.03.2022. The FAA, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide order dated 06.04.2022 upheld the reply of the CPIO.
Aggrieved and dissatisfied, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Facts emerging in Course of Hearing:
Appellant: Present Respondent: 1. Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA
2. Shri Pawan Kumar, Director, MHA Page 2 of 13 The Appellant submitted a common written submission for all the 5 matters dated 04.12.2023 wherein she inter alia stated that the information sought in all the cases falls within the ambit of Section 4 (1) of the Act and that a mechanical decision was given by the FAA. She further averred that in 4 of the 5 matters the applications received in January 2022 reached the answering CPIO in March. Furthermore the decisions of CPIOs were not as per the mandate prescribed u/s 7 (1) r/w 2 (f) and 7(9) as CPIO disposed the applications with "comments/ opinion/ paraphrase" of his own which was contrary to the essence of the definition of information as mentioned in the letter of the then Chief Information Commissioner dated 11.05.2012 addressed to the Secretary, DoPT. She also stated that in the absence of written submissions from the MHA their stand was unknown.
With regard to the instant Second Appeal she specifically argued that the URL containing information regarding composition, functions and procedures related to Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) was not provided, till date and the URL provided was not the one that was requested. Furthermore, the response of CPIO incorrectly conveys that IMCT is constituted pursuant to the Operational Guidelines for Constitution and Administration of the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) of 2022 whereas ICMT predates the parent provision of the said guidelines. A D/o Expenditure website disclosure of 2018 with reference to which she had filed an RTI to D/o Expenditure conveys that IMCT was then constituted by the D/o Expenditure. She therefore prayed for suo motu disclosure of information as per Section 4 (1) (b) and (c) of the RTI Act, 2005.
Shri Ashish V Gawai stated that information as per available record has been provided to the Appellant asthe factual position has been clearly elaborated in the reply dated 09.03.2022. IMCTs are immediately constituted by the MHA in the aftermath of a natural calamity of severe nature for assessment of damages and relief work carried out by the state administration. Subsequent to the hearing a written submission was also received by the Commission fromShri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, Disaster Management Division, M/o Home Affairs vide letter dated 06.12.2023, the relevant extracts of which are as under:
"In this context, it is stated that after receipt of the RTI application registration No. MHOME/R/T/22/00312 dated 22.02.2022, the CPIO has already given an appropriate reply to the appellant on 09.03.2022 in time frame as per provisions of the RTI Act, 2005."
Decision Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, the Commission is of the view that an appropriate response as per the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 has been provided by the Respondent as only such information that is held and available in the records of the public authority can be provided. Hence, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the instant matter.
Page 3 of 13With the above observation, the instant Second Appeal stands disposed off accordingly.
(2) CIC/ MHOME/A/2022/622229 The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 27.01.2022 seeking information on the following:-
"Request for information about HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE (HLC) mentioned on Disaster Management Division website page at https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/secretariat- support (saying that the Division functions as the Secretariat of the HLC and that the HLC was constituted to approve financial assistance to disaster affected States).
Please provide:
1. The URL at which further information about the HLC mentioned on the website is published
2. Copies, preferably by e-mail, of (a) the order by which the HLC mentioned on the website was constituted, and (b) (if the HLC was reconstituted at anytime/s, all) the order/s for its reconstitution/s.
3. The particulars of the competent authority in case of order/s requested at no.2 that say they were issued with approval of competent authority."
The CPIOand DS DM-I, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide online reply dated 09.03.2022 intimated as under:-' "The High Level Committee (HLC) was constituted as per provision made in para 8.1 of the Guidelines for Constitution and Administration of National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) issued on 28.09.2010. The said Guidelines are available at https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/images/Guide_SDRF_28Sep2010_english.pdf. The HLC were re-constituted vide Order dated 15.01.2015. A copy of which is available at https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/images/gallery/Reconstitution%20of%20HLC.pdf."
Dissatisfied with the reply received from the CPIO the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 10.03.2022. The FAA, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide order dated 05.04.2022 upheld the reply of the CPIO.
Aggrieved and dissatisfied, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Facts emerging in Course of Hearing:
Appellant: Present Respondent: 1. Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA Page 4 of 13
2. Shri Pawan Kumar, Director, MHA The Appellant re-iterated her common submission for the 5 Second Appeals as mentioned above and inter alia argued that with regard to the instant matter, she was given incorrect information by the CPIO in the form of 'comments/ opinions' of his own. The DS (DM-I) has informed that HLC was constituted as per the Guidelines of 2010 whereas HLC pre-dates those guidelines as well as the National Policy on DM as approved by the Union Cabinet on 22.10.2009 in which it is described in para 3.3.2.
under sub heading HLC under the heading Existing Institutional Arrangements. She therefore prayed that the information including relevant orders/ circulars should be published and regularly updated as per Section 4 (1) (b) and (c) by the FAA who is the head of the DM Division that provides Secretarial Support to the High Level Committee that approves financial assistance to disaster affected states.
Shri Ashish V Gawai stated that information as per available record has been provided to the Appellant as the factual position regarding constitution of HLC as per available record has been clearly mentioned in the reply dated 09.03.2022.
Subsequent to the hearing a written submission was also received by the Commission from Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, Disaster Management Division, M/o Home Affairs vide letter dated 06.12.2023, the relevant extracts of which are as under:
"In this context, it is stated that RTI Application registration No. MHOME/R/E/22/00373 dated 27.01.2022 was transferred on 02.03.2022 to the incumbent CPIO. After receipt of the RTI application in his account on 02.03.2022, the CPIO has already given an appropriate reply to the appellant on 09.03.2022 in time frame as per provisions of the RTI Act, 2005."
Decision Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, the Commission is of the view that an appropriate response as per the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 has been provided by the Respondent as only such information that is held and available in the records of the public authority can be provided. Hence, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the instant matter.
With the above observation, the instant Second Appeal stands disposed off accordingly.
(3) CIC/ MHOME/A/2022/622228 The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 17.01.2022 seeking information on the following:-
"Request for information of STANDING COMMITTEES OF CABINET THAT NO MORE STAND Page 5 of 13 By Amendment series no.65 dated 25/06/2014 to the TOB Rules, two Standing Committees of Cabinet were in effect merged into Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and two were discontinued, viz. Cabinet Committee on Management of Natural Calamities and Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India.
Cabinet papers etc are exempt from disclosure under section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act with first proviso that decisions etc shall be made public after the matter is complete or over. Standing Committees of Cabinet that no more stand in the First Schedule to the TOB Rules are presumably cabinet matters complete and over, inviting upon their papers etc that enjoyed exemption under section 8(1)(i) the public disclosure mandate of first proviso to section8(1)(1). Business of Secretarial assistance to Cabinet Committees is duly allocated to Cabinet Secretariat that would therefore be holding the record of records of Cabinet Committees and consequently also any attendant disclosure obligation.
Therefore:
A) Please inform the manner in which the information of the erstwhile Standing Committees of Cabinet on Management of Natural Calamities and on Unique Identification Authority of India has been made public by mandate of first proviso to section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act and, in particular:
1. If the information has been made public by Cabinet Secretariat via internet, please provide the exact URL/s.
2. If the Cabinet Secretariat has issued instructions to other Ministries/Departments to make the information public via internet, please provide copies of said instructions.
B) In case the information of the erstwhile Standing Committees of Cabinet has not been made public via the internet and is made public only to extent of becoming accessible under section 6 of the RTI Act, please provide (as substitute for meaningful disclosure under section 4(1)(b)(vi)) copy of the index /note part from each of Cabinet Secretariat files related to the said Cabinet Committees, along with particulars of the Ministries / CPIOs holding the records liable to be made public."
The CPIO and DS DM-I, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide online reply dated 09.03.2022 intimated as under:-
"Reply :- Under the RTI Act, only such information can be supplied which already exists and is held by the Public Authority or held under the control of the Public Authority. The Public Information Officer is not supposed to create information, or to interpret information, or to give non existing opinion/ advice on problems raised by the applicants, or to furnish replies to situational queries.Page 6 of 13
He is also not required to interpret information or furnish replies to hypothetical The information sought by the applicant does not form part of the records held by the CPIO."
Dissatisfied with the reply received from the CPIO the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 10.03.2022. The FAA, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide order dated 05.04.2022 upheld the reply of the CPIO Aggrieved and dissatisfied, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
A written submission was received from the CPIO and US (Cabinet), Cabinet Secretariat vide letter dated 30.11.2023, wherein it was stated that the RTI application was transferred by the CPIO vide letter dated 27.01.2022 to the CPIOs of MHA, D/o Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare and D/o Health and Family Welfare. The Appellant thereafter filed a first appeal requesting for a confirmation that the information is not held by the Cabinet Secretariat and the materials based on which the Cabinet Secretariat concluded that the requested information in held by the transferee public authorities. The FAA, Cabinet Secretariat vide order dated 22.02.2022 disposed off the First Appeal clarifying all the queries of the Appellant. The present Second Appeal is against the replies of the MHA (D/o Disaster Management) and not the Cabinet Secretariat.
Facts emerging in Course of Hearing:
Appellant: Present Respondent: 1. Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA
2. Shri Pawan Kumar, Director, MHA
3. Shri Satya Prakash Chaudhary, US (Implementation Cell), Cabinet Secretariat The Appellant re-iterated her common submission for the 5 Second Appeals as mentioned above and inter alia argued that in this matter no information has been provided to her by the D/o Disaster Management where her application was transferred by the Cabinet Secretariat. She further emphasized that as per the detailed order of the FAA and Jt Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat dated 22.02.2022, secretarial assistance to the Cabinet Secretariat on Management of Natural Calamities was provided by the M/o Home Affairs in all cases except in cases related to Drought Management and Epidemics when it was serviced by the D/o Agriculture and Cooperation and D/o Health and family Welfare. In this context a reference was also made in the FAA order to the ToB Amendment No 58 dated 16.10.2009.
Therefore, the FAA, DM Division, MHA being the Head of the DM Division should publish the full list of decisions of the erstwhile Cabinet Committee on Management of Natural Calamities and ensure that information permissible for disclosure as per the proviso to Section 8 (1) (i) on matters where decisions is "complete or over" should be provided.
Page 7 of 13Shri Satya Prakash ChaudharyUS (Implementation Cell), Cabinet Secretariat also referred to the FAA order dated 22.02.2022 and stated that that the information requested was not available with Cabinet Secretariat.
Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA in turn argued that the information requested by the Appellant is not available with D/o Disaster Managemen, M/o Home Affairs.
Subsequent to the hearing a written submission was received by the Commission from Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, Disaster Management Division, M/o Home Affairs vide letter dated 06.12.2023 wherein the replies available on record were reiterated.
Decision In the light of the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, the Commission finds that there is dichotomy in the replies provided by the Cabinet Secretariat and D/o Disaster Management, MHA regarding the custodian of records. The FAA, Cabinet Secretariat vide its detailed order dated 22.02.2022 has stated that the D/o Disaster Management, MHA is the custodian of records. However, the reasons given in the order have not been examined in the replies/ written submissions of the D/o Disaster Management, MHA. In view of the above, the Commission directs Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA to re-examine the RTI application and provide to the Appellant an updated response in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. In case after re-examination it is still found that no information is available on record an appropriate affidavit should be issued in this regard to the Appellant. The above direction should be complied within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order under intimation to the Commission.
The instant Second Appeal stands disposed off as such.
(4) CIC/ MHOME/A/2022/622227 The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 16.01.2022 seeking information on the following:-
"AMENDMENT IN REVISED LIST OF ITEMS AND NORMS OF ASSISTANCE UNDER STATE DISASTER RESPONSE FUND (SDRF) conveyed vide Ministry of Home Affairs (Disaster Management Division) letter dated 25/09/2021 No.33- 04/2020-NDM-I, issued with approval of the Competent Authority, lists ITEM EX- Gratia payment to next of kin of the deceased due to COVID-19 with NORM by way of amount of Rs.50,000/-, stipulation of strict compliance with enclosed NDMA guidelines, etc. Page 8 of 13 Please inform, with reference to any record, document, memo, circular, etc:
1. The particulars of the Competent Authority mentioned in the letter (including particulars of any delegations of powers).
2. The meaning of NORM and whether or not it means ceiling on the amount of expenditure chargeable to SDRF."
The CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide online reply dated 23.03.2022 replied as under:-
"Reply: Point No-1: CompetentAuthority is the Hon'ble union Home Minister. PointNo-2: Norm signifies the amount of assistance as mentioned in the List of Items and Norms of assistance from SDFRF and NDRF for calculation of the assistance to be released from the SDRF/NDRF."
Dissatisfied with the reply received from the CPIO the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 24.03.2022. The FAA, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide order dated 05.04.2022 upheld the reply of the CPIO.
Aggrieved and dissatisfied, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Facts emerging during the hearing Appellant: Present Respondent: 1. Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA
2. Shri Pawan Kumar, Director, MHA The Appellant re-iterated her common submission for the 5 Second Appeals as mentioned above and inter alia argued that with regard to the instant matter, she was given incorrect information by the CPIO in the form of 'comments/ opinions' of his own. She therefore prayed that the information including relevant orders/ circulars pertaining to norms of assistance from SDRF for Covid 19 including particulars of the competent authority and meaning of the term "norm"should be provided to her and published/ regularly updated as per Section 4 (1) (b) and (c) by the FAA who is the head of the DM Division Shri Ashish V Gawai stated that vide letter dated 23.03.2022 point wise reply was provided to the Appellant which addresses her RTI queries. Subsequent to the hearing a written submission was received by the Commission from Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, Disaster Management Division, M/o Home Affairs vide letter dated 06.12.2023, wherein the replies available on record were reiterated.
Page 9 of 13Decision Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, the Commission is of the view that an appropriate response as per the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 has been provided by the Respondent. Hence, no further intervention of the Commission is required in the instant matter. For redressal of his grievance, the Appellant is advised to approach an appropriate forum.
With the above observation, the instant Second Appeal stands disposed off accordingly.
(5) CIC/ MHOME/A/2022/622226 The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 16.01.2022 seeking information on the following:-
"Request for information about NODAL Ministries and Division for disaster managementPage at https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/ on which website of Disaster Management (DM) Division opens says, under ABOUT US that the Division is the nodal division of MHA for DM. The National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) 2019 says on page-18 that from time to time the central government notifies hazard-specific Nodal Ministries to function as the lead agency in managing specific disasters and lists in Table 1-3 the current notified Nodal Ministries for 20 disasters (not including MHA). Nodal division is note specified in NDMP of CSMOP.
Please provide the exact URL/s at which the following are published on website of MHA or Disaster Management Division or any other official website or, if they are not published on any official website, please provide copies - preferably by e-mail:
1. The Order by which the DM Division was made (as a Division of a Wing / Department).
2. The Order by which the DM Division was made nodal division for disaster management.
3. The Order/s by which Responsibilities of DM Division (described on https://ndmindia.mha.gov.in/responsibilities) were assigned to it.
4. The notifications (mentioned in NDMP) that were function as the lead agency in managing specific disasters. issued from time to time by the Central Government to notify hazard-specific Nodal Ministries to"
The CPIO, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide online reply dated 23.03.2022 replied as under:-
Page 10 of 13"The work allocation among ministries is determined as per Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 (amended from time to time). As per information available the work of disaster management was transferred from Ministry of Agriculture to Ministry of Home Affairs in the year-2002. Since then the DM division is in existence in Ministry of Home Affairs. Order for creation of this division and assigning of work was issued by the Administration Division of this Ministry. According, a copy of the application has been transferred to them for proving requisite information as per RTI Act-2005.
Further, information in respect of Point-4 may be available with NDMA which developed the NDMP-2019. As such a copy of the application has also been transferred to them."
Dissatisfied with the reply received from the CPIO the Appellant filed a First Appeal dated 25.03.2022. The FAA, Ministry of Home Affairs, vide order dated 05.04.2022 upheld the reply of the CPIO.
Aggrieved and dissatisfied, the Appellant approached the Commission with the instant Second Appeal.
Facts emerging in Course of Hearing:
Appellant: Present Respondent: 1. Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA
2. Shri Pawan Kumar, Director, MHA The Appellant re-iterated her common submission for the 5 Second Appeals as mentioned above and inter alia argued that clear and specific information with supporting orders/ circulars was not provided to her, till date. She also raised the issue of delay in providing her the final reply, transfer of RTI application to the individual email Ids of officers and transfer of the application incorrectly to Administration Division of MHA for points 1 to 3 and for point 4 to NDMA where the information was not available as evidenced by the replies subsequently received from Administrative Division of MHA (CPIO and Director, AD-I) dated 20.04.2022 and from the NDMA dated 24.03.2022. Furthermore, she argued that contents of the websites of MHA and Disaster Management Division were different with regard to the formation of Disaster Management Division.
The Appellant also referred to an earlier order of the Commission in File No CIC/DOA&C/A/2022/646290 dated 25.08.2023 wherein she had filed an RTI application to D/o Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DAFW) to know if a DM Division/ Nodal Division for DM existed in M/o Agriculture before 2002 and if it did, the copies of the orders by which it and its predecessor offices were created. In the first appeal she argued that the relevant records cannot be untraceable being part of history of the existing Drought Management Division of MoA and the existing DM Division of MHA. The Commission vide its order dated 25.08.2023 inter alia held as under:
Page 11 of 13"..........Nonetheless, upon insistence of the Appellant and in the spirit of RTI Act, the Commission directs the CPIOs to make one more exercise to trace their office records from the concerned record holder and provide a revised categorical reply intimating the factum of availability or non-availability of records of information sought against each RTI Application in question.
The above said revised replies should be provided by the CPIO free of cost to the Appellant/Complainant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order under due intimation to the Commission."
In compliance with the search direction, the CPIO, DAFW informed that no record/ information could be traced in DAFW despite all the efforts.
Shri Ashish V Gawai stated that work allocation amongst ministries is determined as per the Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 (amended from time to time). As per the information available, the work of disaster management was transferred from M/o Agriculture to M/o Home Affairs in the year 2002. Since then, the DM Division is in existence in the M/o Home Affairs. Order of creation of the division and assigning work was issued by the Administration Division of the MHA. Accordingly the application was transferred to them for providing the requisite information as per the RTI Act, 2005. Regarding point no 4, the information may be available with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which developed the NDMP 2019. Hence, point 4 was transferred to NDMA.
The issue of delay in replying to the RTI application was addressed in the FAA order dated 05.04.2022 wherein it was stated that the RTI application was received in the account of the then CPIO Shri Jitendra Malik who was already transferred on 13.12.2021. Due to not joining of other CPIO in his place, the RTI application remained lying in the RTI account and caused delay. Later on it was transferred on 15.03.2022 to the incumbent CPIO. The delay caused due to the transfer was condoned by the FAA. The incumbent CPIO after receiving the application on 15.03.2022 promptly replied on 23.03.2022.
Subsequent to the hearing a written submission was received by the Commission from Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, Disaster Management Division, M/o Home Affairs vide letter dated 06.12.2023, the relevant extracts of which are as under:
"In this context, it is stated that RTI application registration No. MHOME/R/E/22/00186 dated 25.01.2022 was transferred on 15.03.2022 to the incumbent CPIO. After receipt of the RTI application on 15.03.2022, the CPIO has already given an appropriate reply to the Appellant on 23.03.2022 in time frame and has also partially transferred the application to the CPIO in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and CPIO of Administration Division, Ministry of Home Affairs under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, 2005 for replying to part relating to them as per provisions of the RTI Act, 2005"Page 12 of 13
Decision:
Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, the Commission finds that the information sought is neither available with the D/o DM, MHA nor with the Administration Division of MHA or NDMA where the application was transferred by the D/o DM, MHA. In view of the above the Commission directs Shri Ashish V Gawai, Director, DM-I, MHA to re-examine the RTI application and provide to the Appellant an updated response in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005. In case after re-examination it is still found that no information is available on record an appropriate affidavit should be issued in this regard to the Appellant. The above direction should be complied within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order under intimation to the Commission.
The instant Second Appeal stands disposed off as such.
Heeralal Samariya (हीरालालसाम रया) Chief Information Commissioner (मु य सूचना आयु ) Authenticated true copy (अिभ मािणत स यािपत ित) S. K. Chitkara (एस. के . िचटकारा) Dy. Registrar (उप-पंजीयक) 011-26186535 Page 13 of 13