Delhi High Court - Orders
Pankaj Tyagi vs Director/Cpio Of Fcra Wing Of Ministry ... on 20 November, 2023
Author: Subramonium Prasad
Bench: Subramonium Prasad
$~93
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 14983/2023
PANKAJ TYAGI ..... Petitioner
Through: Petitioner-in-person
versus
DIRECTOR/CPIO OF FCRA WING OF MINISTRY OF HOME
AFFAIRS, GOVT OF INDIA AND ANR ...... Respondents
Through:
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD
ORDER
% 20.11.2023
1. The Petitioner has approached this Court with the following prayers:-
"1) Issue a Writ of Mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or any other Writ, Order or Direction as may be deemed appropriate by this Hon'ble Court to the Respondent No. 1, i.e., Director (FCRA)/CPIO, Foreigners Division/FCRA Wing, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India for providing revised reply as per decision dated 27-6- 2023 of the Chief Information Commissioner in the form of succinct response and furnishing accurate information of point no. 2 and 3 of the RTI Application to the petitioner,
2) Issue a Writ of Mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or any other Writ, Order or Direction as may be deemed appropriate by this Hon'ble Court to the Respondent No. 2, i.e., Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, for imposing penalty against the W.P.(C) 14983/2023 Page 1 of 4 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/11/2023 at 22:28:16 Respondent No. 1 as per Section 20 of the RTI Act, 2005 for deliberately providing misleading information and for not making order on the first appeal till one year instead of 30 days and for non-compliance of the decision, dated 27-6-2023, of the CIC."
2. The Petitioner had approached the CPIO, Director (FCRA) seeking the following information:-
"1) Kindly provide me a certified copy of Form FC-
6/Form FC-7/Form FC-8, accompanied by
i) an income and expenditure statement,
ii) receipt and payment account, and
iii) Balance sheet, which were submitted by/on behalf of the above- mentioned Association regarding the financial year ended on 31% March, 2021, as per Section 18 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 read with Rule 17 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011.
2) Kindly provide me a copy of details of manner in which the foreign contribution was utilised by the above-mentioned Association regarding the financial year ended on 31% March, 2021, as per Section 18 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 read with Rule 17 of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011.
3) Has the Ministry of Home Affairs conducted physical inspection of the activities done by the said Association ever? It yes, provide me the relevant dates for the said purpose."
W.P.(C) 14983/2023 Page 2 of 4This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/11/2023 at 22:28:16
3. Reply to question No.1 was given by the Respondents but satisfactory reply was not given for question No.2 and 3.
4. Aggrieved by the reply given by the CPIO, the Petitioner filed an appeal which was rejected. Thereafter, the Petitioner filed a Second Appeal No. CIC/MHOME/A/2022/633601 before the Central Information Commission (CIC). The CIC vide Order dated 27.06.2023 passed the following order:-
"Decision:
Upon perusal of the facts on record as well as on the basis of the proceedings during the hearing, the Commission observes that though an appropriate reply has been provided by the Respondent on point no. 1 of the RTI Application, the replies provided by the Respondent on points no. 2 and 3 of the RTI Application are not satisfactory. The request at point 2 is not seeking a clarification and the query at point 3 is quite clear and should elicit a succinct response. Hence, the Commission directs the CPIO to provide a revised reply furnishing accurate information to the Appellant. This revised reply should be sent to the Appellant within three weeks of receipt of this order and a compliance report in this regard should be submitted by the Respondent before this Commission by 31.07.2023.
With the above observations, the instant Second Appeal is disposed of."
5. It is stated that the CPIO instead of complying with the orders of the CIC has refused to give information on the ground that the information sought for by the Petitioner is hit by Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. It is stated that against the said reply, the Petitioner has already approached the Central Information Commission by moving an application complaining W.P.(C) 14983/2023 Page 3 of 4 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/11/2023 at 22:28:16 about non-compliance of its Order dated 27.06.2023.
6. It is stated that the application was filed by the Petitioner in the month of September, 2023, and more than three months have passed and the application is not being heard.
7. The CIC is requested to consider the application filed by the Petitioner complaining about non-compliance of its own order as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of two months from today.
8. The writ petition is disposed of along with pending application(s), if any.
SUBRAMONIUM PRASAD, J NOVEMBER 20, 2023 hsk W.P.(C) 14983/2023 Page 4 of 4 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 22/11/2023 at 22:28:16