Central Information Commission
Mr.Anil Sharma vs Cbi on 30 October, 2012
Central Information Commission, New Delhi
File No.CIC/SM/C/2012/000249, 000354, 000375 & 900280,
Right to Information Act2005Under Section (19)
Date of hearing : 31 October 2012
Date of decision : 31 October 2012
Name of the Appellant : Shri Anil Sharma,
S/o. Shri Chand Kishore Sharma,
C32, New Zafrabad DDA Colony Naveen,
Shahdara, Delhi - 32.
Shri Deepak Kumar,
B1/1, Income Tax Colony,
Katanga, Jabalpur, M.P.
Shri Mehtab Singh,
H.No. 985, Sector 3, HUDA,
Rohtak - 124 001.
Shri Omprakash Kashiram,
03/16, Amol Apartment,
Waldhuni, Kalyan - 421 301.
Name of the Public Authority : CPIO, Central Bureau of Investigation,
(HOB), Plot No. 5B, 1st Floor,
A & B Wing, CGO Complex,
New Delhi - 110 003.
Shri Deepak Kumar was the only Appellant present during the hearing.
On behalf of the Respondent, Shri Ravi Gambhir, ASP, was present.
CIC/SM/C/2012/000375 Chief Information Commissioner : Shri Satyananda Mishra
2. Except one, none of the other Complainants turned up for the hearing in spite of notice. The Complainant in the case number 900280 was present in the Jabalpur studio of the NIC and made his submissions.
3. The Respondent was, however, present in our chamber and submitted that the CPIO had received none of these RTI applications and, therefore, could not have responded either way. In all these cases, the CBI claims not to have received the RTI applications. But the fact is that in all these cases, the envelopes containing the RTI applications had been returned to the postal authorities. This is a serious matter. In fact, we had taken up such cases with the CBI earlier and the Director CBI had promptly intervened and had issued clear instructions that no such application would be returned. We must say that, thereafter, we have not come across any such case. It appears that the present set of RTI applications had been received soon after the notification of the Central Government when some lowerlevel functionaries in the CBI, out of gross misunderstanding, had been refusing to accept even the envelopes containing the RTI application.
4. There can be two reasons for the RTI application not reaching the CPIO. One, the address is wrongly mentioned on the envelope or the addressee deliberately refuses to accept the envelope from the postal authorities. The remedy for the former lies in the CBI announcing clearly in its website the exact address of each of its many CPIOs and Appellate Authorities not only in their CIC/SM/C/2012/000375 Head Office in New Delhi but also in all their field offices located elsewhere in the country. Some of the large organisations like the Armed Forces have appointed an RTI Cell under a common CPIO which receives all RTI applications and then distributes those to other relevant CPIOs to act on the RTI requests. The CBI being a large organisation with multiple offices, it would be very useful for the information seekers if an RTI Cell under a nodal CPIO is established in the headquarters of the CBI with adequate publicity about this in the CBI website. It would help the information seekers to send their RTI applications in one common address. We direct the CPIO to place this order before the Director CBI so that he can consider taking appropriate action in the matter.
5. As far as the present set of four RTI applications are concerned, we cannot compel the CPIO to provide any information since he has not received the applications in the first place. We would like to advise the Complainants that they may send their RTI applications now in the following address:
Head of Branch and the CPIO, Anticorruption Branch, CBI, 5B CGO Complex (First floor), Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003.
6. All the complaints are disposed of accordingly.
7. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties. CIC/SM/C/2012/000375 (Satyananda Mishra) Chief Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application and payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the CPIO of this Commission.
(Vijay Bhalla) Deputy Registrar CIC/SM/C/2012/000375