Central Information Commission
Dr. Neeraj Nagpal vs Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare on 10 October, 2022
Author: Heeralal Samariya
Bench: Heeralal Samariya
केन्द्रीय सूचना आयोग
Central Information Commission
बाबा गंगनाथ मागग ,मुननरका
Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka
नई निल्ली, New Delhi - 110067
नितीय अपील संख्या/Second Appeal No.: CIC/MH&FW/A/2021/617909
Dr. Neeraj Nagpal .....अपीलकताग /Appellant
VERSUS/बनाम
Public Information Officer Under RTI,
Assistant Director General-(ME-I),
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
(Department of Health & Family Welfare),
(Medical Education-I Section),
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi-110108.
Public Information Officer Under RTI,
Under Secretary & CPIO, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Health & Family Welfare Department,
Nirman Bhawan, Maulana Azad Road,
New Delhi-110108.
...प्रनतवािीगण/Respondents
Relevant facts emerging from appeal:
RTI application filed on : 02.12.2020
CPIO replied on : 24.12.2020
First appeal filed on : 04.02.2021
First Appellate Authority order : 01.03.2021
Second Appeal received at CIC : 17.05.2021
Date of Hearing : 10.10.2022
Date of Decision : 10.10.2022
सूचना आयुक्त : श्री हीरालाल सामररया
Information Commissioner: Shri Heeralal Samariya
Page 1 of 6
Information sought:
The Appellant sought following information:
• PIO/US, Department of Health and Family Welfare furnished reply, vide letter dated 21.12.2020, as under:
• Dissatisfied with the response received from PIO, Appellant filed First Appeal, vide letter dated 04.02.2021.Page 2 of 6
• The FAA/ Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education -I Section, vide order dated 01.03.2021 held as under:
• Written submission has been received from the Appellant vide letter dated • Written submission has been received from National Medical Commission Medical Assessment and Rating Board vide letter dated 07.10.2022 as under :
• Written submission has been received from MoHFW vide letter dated 06.10.2022 as under :Page 3 of 6
Grounds for Second Appeal:
The PIO has not provided correct information to the Appellant.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present: -
Appellant: Represented by Adv. Vijayendra Singh Rana Respondent:
1. Mr. Maninder, Assistant, ESIC
2. Mr. Praveen Kumar Dabas ,Asst. Director, ESIC
3. Mr Prabhar Dua, Assistant Director, ESIC
4. Mr. Vijendra Kumar Singh, Dy. Director, M/o Defence
5. Lt. Col. Harneet Kaur O/o DGAFMS
6. Mr. Shiv Kumar (US)
7. B.B. Sinha, SO, National Medical Commission
8. Chandan Kumar, US, MoHFW.
The Respondent placed on record written submission of CPIO, M/o Defence dated 10.10.2022 during hearing. Reply furnished by CPIO, ESIC dated 14.12.2021 has been placed on record during hearing.
The Representative of Appellant submitted that the requisite information has not been furnished to him. He further submitted that the Appellant has received the reply from ESI. He stated that the Appellant has not received the written submission of National Medical Commission Medical Assessment and Rating Board dated 07.10.2022.
Page 4 of 6The Respondent reiterated averments made in their written submission. They further submitted that requisite information has been duly provided to the Appellant from their official record.
Decision:
Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, the Commission is of the view that an appropriate response as per the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 has been provided by the Respondent since only such information that is held and available with a public authority can be provided to the information seekers.
A reference in this regard can be made to the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SLP(C) NO. 7526/2009 (CBSE &Anr. Vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay & Ors.) had held that:
"35. At this juncture, it is necessary to clear some misconceptions about the RTI Act. The RTI Act provides access to all information that is available and existing. This is clear from a combined reading of section 3 and the definitions of 'information' and 'right to information' under clauses (f) and (j) of section 2 of the Act. If a public authority has any information in the form of data or analysed data, or abstracts, or statistics, an applicant may access such information, subject to the exemptions in section 8 of the Act. But where the information sought is not a part of the record of a public authority, and where such information is not required to be maintained under any law or the rules or regulations of the public authority, the Act does not cast an obligation upon the public authority, to collect or collate such non- available information and then furnish it to an applicant. A public authority is also not required to furnish information which require drawing of inferences and/or making of assumptions..."
Thus, a combined reading of the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 with the above decision clearly indicates that 'information' as defined in the section 2(f) of the Act, only refers to such material as is already available in the records of the public authority.
Commission deems it expedient to highlight that Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in its judgment dated 04.12.2014 in case of The Registrar, Supreme Court of India vs. Commodore Lokesh K. Batra and Ors. [W.P.(C) No. 6634/2011] has held as under:
Page 5 of 6"11. Insofar as the question of disclosing information that is not available with the public authority is concerned, the law is now well settled that the Act does not enjoin a public authority to create, collect or collate information that is not available with it. There is no obligation on a public authority to process any information in order to create further information as is sought by an applicant......."
In light of above, since the information as defined under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act from available official records, has been duly provided to the Appellant, no cause of action subsists under the RTI Act.
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Heeralal Samariya (हीरालाल सामररया) Information Commissioner (सूचना आयुक्त) Authenticated true copy (अनिप्रमानणतसत्यानपतप्रनत) Ram Parkash Grover (रामप्रकाशग्रोवर) Dy. Registrar (उप-पंजीयक) 011-26180514 Page 6 of 6