Central Information Commission
Mr.Sanjeev Jha vs Ministry Of Information And ... on 29 December, 2011
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26161796
Decision No. CIC/SG/C/2011/000846/16656
Complaint No. CIC/SG/C/2011/000846
Relevant Facts emerging from the Complaint:
Complainant : Mr. Sanjeev Jha
C-25 (Basement)
Jangpura Extension
New Delhi -110014
Respondent : Mr. Atya Nand
Public Information Officer & Under Secretary
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Room No. 116, A- Wing Shastri Bhawan,
Delhi -110001
RTI application filed on : 23/04/2011
PIO replied : 25/08/2011 (submission)
First appeal filed on : 03/05/2011
Complaint filed on : 15/07/2011
Complaint notice sent on : 15/11/2011
Information sought:
(A) Please provide the following details of all the Television channels granted permission to telecast from 1' may 2006 to till today by the ministry of information and broadcasting
1) Name of the Television channel.
2) Name of the Directors/owners/holding company/companies/firms /individuals, addresses and phone numbers of each of them.
3) Full name and address of the contact person for each of these channels.
4) Please provide State/s, regions and languages for which the permission has been granted for each of these channels
5) Please provide the date on which the application was received and the date on which the permission was granted for each of these channels.
6) Bow many of these channels have started telecasting.
7) How many of these channels are yet to start telecasting.
8) How many of these channels have stopped telecasting or have become dormant after starting telecasting. Please provide the date on which they stopped telecasting and became dormant.
9) Please provide the category/content eg, news, entertainment movies etc. allowed by the ministry of &b for each the channels granted permission to telecast.
10) Please provide photocopies of the order /permission document through which permission has been granted by MW to all these channels to telecast.
11) How many channels which have permission to telecast have changed their names, please provide previous earlier name /names and their current name of the T V Channels which have changed their names.
12) Please describe in detail as to what is the procedure /process of changing the name of a T V channel is followed by ministry of information and broadcasting.Page 1 of 4
13) How many T V channels have changed the Directors / owners holding companies S/firms/individuals from 1 May 2006 till date Please provide names of the channels there previous / earlier Directors/owners/holding companies/firms/individuals and their current Directors/owners /holding companies/ firms/ individuals.
14) Please describe in details the procedure/process of changing the Directors/owners! Holding company/s of the TV channel followed by ministry of information and broadcasting.
This information may be provided in tabled format or anl other user /reader friendly format. {B} Please provide following details of all the applications for Television channels pending With Ministry of I&B till date:
1) Name of the Television channel.
2) Names of the Directors/owner/owners /holding company/companies/firms /individuals, and Addresses, phone numbers of each of them. -
3) Full name and address of the contact person for each of these channels.
4) Please provide States, regions and languages for which the permission has been asked for each of these channels.
5) Please provide date on which each of these applications was received by the Ministry of I &B.
6) Please provide the category/content eg, news, entertainment, movies etc for which the channels have requested permission to telecast.
{C}
1)Please provide photocopies of all the pages of file /files along with all documents, correspondence etc and file noting of the Televis½n channel named as "MOVIES NOW" Telecasting movies.
2) Please provide date on which the application for permission to telecast was received from "MOVIES NOW "and the date on which the permission was granted.
Grounds of the First Appeal:
Not mentioned.
Grounds of the Complaint:
Information not provided by PIO.
Submissions received from the PIO dated 25/08/2011:
Part A. The point wise information is as under:
Point Nos. II), (2), (4), (5) & (9) Enclosures are attached herewith. Point No. (3) The private satellite TV Channels are permitted in the name of Company and not in the name of person. Hence no contact details are available. Point No. 16) & (7). Permission holders of satellite TV channels are required to operationalize their channels within one year of issuance of permission or within such extended period as may be permitted by this Ministry. As per information provided by Network Operations Control Centre (NOCC), Department of Telecommunications, 495 channels are reported operational as on 10.08.2011 Point No. (8). Permission is granted for a period of 10 years. This Ministry does no maintain day to day operational status of the Channels.
Point No. (10). Information sought pertains to 3rd party and cannot be provide under RTI ACT, 2005, Section 8 (d).
Point No. (11) & (13). No specific compilation is available with the undersigned. These are dealt with on case to case basis in individual files.
Point No.( 12) The applicant companies can make request for change in name of channel with requisite processing fee if applicable, with fresh affidavits in Form- 1A, 1B/ 1C for uplinking and 1A & 18 for downlinking along with new logo.
Point No. (14) Applicant companies are required to take prior approval of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting before appointing new Directors on their Board of Director. They are required to submit the Bio-Data along with supporting documents in respect of the proposed new Directors. Owner of the channel cannot be change during whole permission period.Page 2 of 4
Part B. There are 389 numbers of applications pending with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting till date. Revealing the information on these applications attracts breach of trade secrets (section 8(d) of the RTI Act 2005), and hence information is denied.
Part C. Point No. (1). This question is related to third party. So, according to RTI Act, 2005, Section 8 (d), we can't provide photocopies of all pages along with documents, correspondence etc. and file notings of the private satellite TV Channel "Movie Now".
Point No. (2). The Channel was originally applied for as "ZOOM DIVA" on 12.06.2008 by M/s Zoom Entertainment Network Private Ltd., Mumbai. The permission for "ZOOM DIVA" was issued on 20.10.2008. The company applied for change of Channel from "ZOOM DIVA" to "MOVIES NOW" on 26.07.20 10 and permission for name change was issued on 17.08.2010. -
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present:
Complainant: Mr. Kawaljeet Singh representing Mr. Sanjeev Jha; Respondent: Mr. Atya Nand, Public Information Officer & Under Secretary;
The RTI application was filed on 23/04/2011. The PIO claims that he sent a response on 13/07/2011 but has brought no proof to show that any such response was sent. The Complainant states that he did not receive any such response. The Commission notes that despite specific instructions in the hearing notice that proof of dispatch must be brought the PIO has acted very irresponsibly and not brought any evidence to show that whether he is being truthful. The Complainant states that has received first response dated 25/08/2011 from the PIO which is also incomplete.
The respondent has brought certain information which ahs been given to the complainant before the Commission. The respondent is directed to provide the following information to the Complainant: 1- Copies of the permissions granted to TV Channels from 2006 onwards. 2- Query (C): Copy of complete file alongwith file notings of TV Channel "Movie Now".
The Complainant also points out that the information about list of applications pending in the Ministry of I & B for satellite TV Channels as well as information on the satellite TV Channels which have already been permitted alongwith all the details giving details of channel name, name of company, date of application, address of company, type of channel, telephone numbers, whether for uplinking or downlinking, language, board of director and their operational status should be available on the website in discharge of the departments obligation under Section 4 of the RTI Act. The Commission under its powers under Section 19(8)(a)(iii) directs the PIO to ensure that this information is displayed on the website of the Ministry before 30 January 2012.
Decision:
The Complaint is allowed.
The PIO is directed to provide the information on the two points as directed above to the Complainant before 25 January 2012.
The PIO is also directed to ensure that the information as listed above are displayed on the website of the Ministry before 30 January 2012 and the information is updated atleast once every month. The PIO is directed to send a compliance report along with the url address where the information has been uploaded to [email protected] to the Commission before 10 February 2012.
The issue before the Commission is of not supplying the complete, required information by the PIO within 30 days as required by the law.Page 3 of 4
From the facts before the Commission it appears that the PIO is guilty of not furnishing complete information within the time specified under sub-section (1) of Section 7 as per the requirement of the RTI Act. He has further refused to obey the orders of his superior officer. The First Appellate Authority has clearly ordered the information to be given.
It appears that the PIO's actions attract the penal provisions of Section 20 (1). A showcause notice is being issued to him, and he is directed give his reasons to the Commission to show cause why penalty should not be levied on him.
He will give his written submissions showing cause why penalty should not be imposed on him as mandated under Section 20 (1) before 30 January, 2012. He will also send the information sent to the appellant as per this decision and submit speed post receipt as proof of having sent the information to the appellant, along with the copy of the information.
This decision is announced in open chamber.
Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.
Any information in compliance with this Order will be provided free of cost as per Section 7(6) of RTI Act.
Shailesh Gandhi Information Commissioner 29 December 2011 (In any correspondence on this decision, mention the complete decision number.)(AS) Page 4 of 4