Central Information Commission
Mr. G C Bhatia vs Registrar Cooperative Society, Govt. ... on 13 January, 2010
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002226/5286Penalty
Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2009/002226
SHOWCAUSE HEARING:
Appellant : Mr. G C Bhatia,
Flat No M2/C6
Jhulelal Apartment,
Pitampura, Delhi
Respondent : Mr M L Gupta,
Public Information Officer
Registrar Cooperative Society,
Govt. of NCT of Delhi
O/o Assistant Registrar (N-W)
Old Courts Building, Parliament Street,
New Delhi- 110001
RTI application filed on : 14/05/2009
PIO replied : 12/06/2009
First appeal filed on : 26/06/ 2009
First Appellate Authority order : 17/07/2009
Second Appeal received on : 02/09/2009
BACKGROUND:
S. No Information Sought Reply of the PIO a. a) List of defaulters of loans of DCHFC Ltd during Information can be obtained from
the period 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-2008. the society under section 139.
b) Audit reports of DCHFC during the period 2005- 06, 2006-07, 2007-2008.
b. Information can be obtained from
Audit reports (for the period 2005-06, 2006-07, the society under section 139.
2007-2008
which comply with the provisions of Section 60(2) DCS Act, 2003.
(The chapter on financial working of the cooperative society before and during construction and on allotment of flats to members, individual investments, defaults, action taken against defaulters).
c. According to the Rule 79(11) of DCS Rules: a) Audit reports are examined and
a) The officer who is authorized to examine audit accepted by the A.R (Audit) reports.
b) Whether reports for the years 2005-06, 2006-07, b) Included in audit report and the
2007-2008 have been accepted by the officer information can be obtained from
authorized. the society under section 139.
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c) Copy of the report submitted by the authorized c) Included in audit report and the officer to the Registrar for consideration. information can be obtained from
d) Copy of the approval of audit report the society under section 139. communicated to the cooperative society by the d) Not mentioned. Registrar or the authorized officer.
First Appeal:
Unsatisfactory information provided by the PIO.
Order of the FAA:
The FAA directed the SPIO/AR (NW) to provide the information to the appellant within 15 days.
Ground of the Second Appeal:
Non Compliance of the order of the FAA.
Relevant Facts that emerged during the Hearing on 29 October 2009:
"The following were present Appellant : Mr. Ajay Wadhwa on behalf of Mr. G C Bhatia;
Respondent : Absent;
The Appellant contends that though he has been given copy of the audit report of Jhulelal Sindhu Nagar Cooperative Group Housing Society some essential parts are not included. The Appellant had also sought the names of the authorized officer authorized examine audit reports and whether the audit reports had been accepted by the officers. This information had also not been provided to the appellant. Effectively query C had also not been replied too.
The Appellant points out that Section 62 (2) of the DCS Act states, "....Provided that in the case of co-operative group housing society where land has been allotted, the audit report shall contain a separate Chapter regarding detailed financial working of the co- operative society before construction, during construction, and on allotment of flats to members, detailing individual investment, defaults if any by an individual, action taken by the Committee in case of default, etc....." Hence the defaulter's list must be provided in the audit report which is not been done."
Commission's Decision on 29 October 2009:
"The Appeal is allowed.
The PIO will provide the complete defaulters list from the audit report alongwith the information asked at query-C to be provided to the Appellant before 20 November 2009."
Facts leading to Showcause:
The issue before the Commission was of not supplying the complete, required information by the PIO within 30 days as required by the law. From the facts before the Commission it appeared that the PIO Mr. M.L.Gupta was guilty of not furnishing information within the time specified under sub-section (1) of Section 7 by not replying within 30 days, as per the requirement of the RTI Act. He has further refused to obey the orders of his superior officer, which raised a reasonable doubt that the denial of information may also be malafide. The First Appellate Authority had clearly ordered the information to be given. Hence a showcause notice was issued to him, and he was directed give his reasons to the Commission to show cause why penalty should not be levied on him on 10 December 2009 at 12.00pm.
Page no. 2 of 4 Since the PIO did not appear before the Commission on 10/12/2009 at 11.30am hence one final opportunity was given to the PIO to appear before the Commission on 13/01/2010 to showcause why penalty should not be levied on him. Relevant Facts emerging during the Hearing on 13 January 2010:
The following were present:
Appellant : Mr. G C Bhatia;
Respondent : Mr. M.L.Gupta the then PIO & Assistant Registrar (Audit);
Mr. Ved Prakash, Present PIO;
The Respondent inspite of the directions of the Commission and the reminder has refused to give the information to the Appellant. The information was to be provided to the Appellant by 14/06/2009 since the RTI application was filed on 14/05/2009. The Respondent has brought what he calls information by a letter dated 12/01/2010 in which he make no mention of the defaulters list specifically ordered by the Commission to be given to the Appellant. Further he states that the copy of the report submitted by the authorized officer for consideration must be collected by the Appellant from the Zone. Even on the issue of the copy of the approval of the audit report communicated to the Cooperative Society by the Register the PIO states that the information must be collected from the Zone by the appellant. The PIO is willfully and defiantly refusing to obey the orders of the Commission. He has refused to provide the information within 30 days of the application. The FAA had ordered the information to be provided within 15 days on 17/07/2009. This order was also not complied with. Further the Commission's order of 29/10/2009 had not impact on the PIO's refusal to provide the information. The PIO is not giving any reasonable explanation for this consistent refusal to give information. Even today the complete information has not been provided to the Appellant. The Commission orders the current PIO Mr. Ved Prakash to provide the complete list of defaulters and copy of the report submitted by the authorized officer to the Registrar for consideration. He will also supply the copy of the approval of audit report communicated to the Cooperative Society by the Registrar or the authorized officer. Mr. Ved Prakash will provide the complete information to the Appellant before 25 January 2010.
The earlier PIO Mr. M.L.Gupta states that he has been transferred on 05/11/2009. From 09/11/2009 Mr. Ved Prakash is the PIO and is responsible for not having complied the Commission's orders to supply the information before 20/11/2009. Mr. Ved Prakash the present PIO states that he had not received the order of the Commission and became aware of this order only on 31/12/2009.
The Commission sees this as a fit case for levy of penalty on Mr. M.L.Gupta who has consistently refused to give the information. Since the delay is over 100 days the Commission penalizes Mr.M.L.Gupta Rs.25000/- which is the maximum penalty under Section 20(1) of the RTI Act.
Decision:
As per the provisions of Section 20 (1), the Commission finds this a fit case for levying penalty on Mr. M.L.Gupta, PIO. Since the delay in providing the correct information has been over 100 days, the Commission is passing an order penalizing Mr. M.L.Gupta for Rs. 25000/ which is the maximum penalty under the Act.
The Registrar, of the Co-operative society is directed to recover the amount of Rs.25000/- from the salary of Mr. M.L.Gupta and remit the same by a demand draft or a Banker's Cheque in the name of the Pay & Accounts Officer, CAT, payable at New Page no. 3 of 4 Delhi and send the same to Shri Pankaj K.P. Shreyaskar, Joint Registrar and Deputy Secretary of the Central Information Commission, 2nd Floor, August Kranti Bhawan, New Delhi - 110066. The amount may be deducted at the rate of Rs.5000/ per month every month from the salary of Mr. M.L.Gupta and remitted by the 10th of every month starting from February 2010. The total amount of Rs.25000 /- will be remitted by 10th of June, 2010.
Shailesh Gandhi Information Commissioner 13 January 2010 CC:
1- The Registrar of the Co-operative society
Old Courts Bldg. Parliament Street.
New Delhi-110001.
2- Shri Pankaj K.P. Shreyaskar,
Joint Registrar and Deputy Secretary
Central Information Commission,
2nd Floor, August Kranti Bhawan,
New Delhi - 110066
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