Central Information Commission
Mr.Shravan Kumar Gupta vs Bhel on 16 April, 2013
Central Information Commission
Room No. 305, 2nd Floor, 'B' Wing, August Kranti Bhavan,
Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi110066
Web: www.cic.gov.in Tel No: 26167931
Case No. CIC/SS/A/2013/000297
Dated: 16.04.2013
Name of Appellant : Shri Shravan Kumar Gupta
Name of Respondent : Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.,
Haridwar
Date of Hearing : 08.04.2013
ORDER
Shri Shravan Kumar Gupta, hereinafter called the appellant, has filed the present appeal dated 11.6.2012, before the Commission against the respondent Bharat Heavy Electircals Ltd., Haridwar, for denial of information in response to his RTI-application dated 23.6.2011. The appellant was present whereas the respondent were represented by Shri K.K. Chauhan, Sr. Manager/CPIO, Shri S. Satish Rao, AGM, Ms. Shreysi Singh, Sr. Executive (Law) and Shri Nilabh Kishore, DIG/CBI.
2. The appellant through his RTI application (1D) dated 23.6.2011 sought information on two queries: (1) Towards outstanding dues of Rs. 96587 towards the supply of Low Carbon Ferro Chrome by his firm M/s. Hindustan Asbestos & Ferro Alloy to BHEL on 6.6.2006; and (2) sought copies of SRV and SIV pertaining to supply of Fluorspar against purchase order No. P8B0497. The CPIO vide his letter No. HWCPIO:110138 dated 18.7.2011 informed the appellant as follows: " You are (Shri Sharvan Kumar), vendor registered with Central Foundry Forge Plant, BHEL, Haridwar on whom the charges of supplying 2 Case No. CIC/SS/A/2013/000297 sub standard material to CFFP, BHEL, Haridwar through different firms viz. M/s. Sterling Metallurgical Pvt. Ltd., M/s. Asian Ferro Alloys Pvt. Ltd and M/s. Hindustan Asbestos is under investigation by CBI. All the information sought could not be provided u/s 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act as it would impede the process of investigation".
3. Not satisfied with the reply of the CPIO, the appellant filed first appeal on 6.8.2011 before the FAA. The FAA (Appellate Committee) vide order No. RTI/145-155/12/08/2011 - 156/17/08/2011 dated 26.9.2011 held that the denial of disclosure of the information, quoting Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act, without providing any justification that disclosure of information would impede the process of investigation, was not valid. The FAA (Appellate Committee) directed the CPIO to readdress all the applications dated 1.6.2011, 2.6.2011, 4.6.201, 6.6.2011, 20.6.2011, 21.6.201, 22.6.2011, 23.6.2011, 25.6.2011, 24.6.2011, 27.6.2011 and 8.6.201 in accordance with the RTI Act. In compliance, the CPIO vide letter dated 4.11.2011 reiterated his earlier reply.
4. Not satisfied with the reply dated 4.11.2011, the appellant again approached the FAA on 1.2.2012. The FAA (Appellate Committee) vide order No. 246/06/02/2012 dated 20.3.2012 held that the CPIO has provided relevant reason for not disclosing the information and upheld the reply of the CPIO.
5. During the hearing the Shri Nilabh Kishore, DIG, CBI filed his written submissions as under:
• A reliable source information was received at CBI, Dehradun that Shri Shravan Kumar Gupta, Vendor registered with Central Forge Foundry Plant (CFFP), BHEL, Haridwar was supplying sub-standard Ferro Alloys namely High Carbon Ferro Chrome, Ferro Silicon, Ferro Molybdenum, High Carbon Ferro Manganese to BHEL through his two firms viz M/s. Asian Ferro Alloys Ltd and M/s. Sterling Metallurgical Pvt. Ltd, Haridwar in connivance with the BHEL officers; • Based on the said information, a Joint surprise check along with the Vigilance Officials of the BHEL was conducted on 8.3.2010 and physical inspection was done of stock in the store of CFFP, BHEL;
• The samples were collected in the presence and guidance of Associate Professor, Metallurgical & Material Engg. Department, IIT, Roorkee. The samples were sent 3 Case No. CIC/SS/A/2013/000297 to National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur for chemical analysis, which were found to be sub-standard as per specification of the BHEL in accordance which Shri Shravan Kumar Gupta was required to supply the material; • The investigation has disclosed that the appellant had forged/ prepared fake certificates purportedly issued by the material manufacturing firms M/s. Jabamayee Ferro Alloys Ltd., Jajpur Odisha and M/s Cosmic Ferro Alloys Ltd, Bankura and had submitted false certificates in BHEL in support of his claim about the confirmation of specifications. Both these manufacturer firms have clearly stated that the said certificates were not issued by them and the same were forged;
• Investigation has thus established that with the criminal intention to cheat BHEL, the appellant supplied sub-standard material and in order to justify BHEL specifications, he provided forged certificates. He further dishonestly and fraudulently in connivance with the official of Quality Control Lab of CFFP, BHEL got these samples passed and thus caused wrongful loss to the BHEL to the tune of Rs. 13,32,998/- and wrongful gain to himself and others; • On completion of investigation, chargesheet in the3 case was filed in the Court of Special Judge, CBI, Dehradun on 30.7.2011. The Trial Court has framed the charges against all the accused persons and the prosecution evidence is being recorded.
• The accused Shravan Kumar Gupta, one after another has filed RTI application before BHEL authorities for seeking information on the issues which were under active investigation of CBI and therefore during the course of investigation BHEL concluded that such information would impede the process of investigation in terms of exemption provided u/s 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act. The CPIO, BHEL has forwarded these RTI applications to CBI on 14.6.2011 but CPIO, CBI returned it back to BHEL stating that CBI was exempted u/s 24 of the RTI Act. • The accused Shravan Kumar Gupta through RTI applications has been trying to collect documents/information in his defence. In fact all the relied upon documents/evidences have been filed in the Court and supplied to the accused by the Court. The prosecution evidence is being recorded. On completion of prosecution evidence, the statement of accused would be recorded by the Court u/s 313 Cr. P.C., thereafter the accused shall be called upon by the Trial Court to produce the list for his defence evidence, on which accused would be required to file the list of defence witnesses and list of documents for Court to supply/call those witnesses/documents from its custodian. The CBI prosecutor shall have right to confront such list on relevance. Production of such documents without screening by Court, the accused has been trying to circumvent the well established procedure of law by filing defence documents obtained through RTI applications and thus simply wants to delay the trial proceedings. • In view of above facts and circumstances of the case, the information sought by the appellant is exempted u/s 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act pertaining to all the evidence/ materials mentioned in the chargesheet and list of documents/articles and also the material lying with the BHEL from which the samples were drawn as providing such information/material would impede the prosecution of the offenders because the case is pending trial and thus the matter is sub-judice.
6. The appellant on the other hand, contends that he has been a vendor to BHEL, Haridwar since many years and his queries in the present RTI application 4 Case No. CIC/SS/A/2013/000297 are regarding outstanding dues with regard to supply of Low Carbon Ferro Chrome by his firm in 2006, which has nothing to do with the present CBI case.
7. Having considered the submissions of the parties and perused the relevant documents on file, the Commission is of the view that the information sought by the appellant on both the queries, is disclosable information and the provisions of Section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act do not apply in the present case. The Commission hereby directs the CPIO to provide information as per record, including copies of SRV and SIV, to the appellant within two weeks of receipt of this order.
The matter is disposed of on the part of the Commission with the above directions/observations.
(Sushma Singh) Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy:
(K.K. Sharma) OSD & Deputy Registrar Address of the parties:
Shri Sharvan Kumar Gupta, S/O Shri Surendra Kumar Gupta, 41, Vivek Vihar, Ranipur More, Haridwar-249403.
The CPIO, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Ranipur, Haridwar-249403 The First Appellate Authority, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., BHEL House, Siri Fort, New Delhi-110049.5
Case No. CIC/SS/A/2013/000297