Central Information Commission
Shishir Chand vs Central Board Of Secondary Education on 28 November, 2017
Central Information Commission
Room No. 412, New CIC Bhawan, Baba Gang Nath Marg, Munirka,
New Delhi-110067
website-cic.gov.in
Appeal No. CIC/CBSED/A/2017/155068/MP.
Appellant. : Shri Shishir Chand, New Delhi.
Public Authority : Central Board of Secondary Education,
Delhi.
Date of Hearing : 23rd November, 2017.
Date of Decision : 27th November, 2017.
Present
Appellant : Present at CIC.
Respondent : Smt. S. Dharini Arun,DS/CPIO(NEET)
at CIC.
RTI application : 10.06.2017
CPIO's reply : 11.07.2017
First Appeal : 17.07.2017
FAA's order : 01.08.2017
Second Appeal : 07.08.2017
Information Commissioner : Manjula Prasher
ORDER
1. The appellant, Shri Shishir Chand submitted RTI application dated 28.01.2016 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Delhi seeking copy of application form and enrolment form filled by Dr. Atul Chhabra, a student who qualified CBSE All India Pre Medical Pre Dental Entrance Examination in the year 1989-90 and eventually joined Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Jamshedpur.
1.
2. The CPIO denied the information under the provisions of Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act, 2005 and informed the appellant that the period of retaining application form and other related documents of the candidates was only 60 days after the declaration of result. Dissatisfied with the response from the CPIO, the appellant approached the first appellant authority (FAA). The FAA while upholding the decision of the CPIO held that the information sought was not available with CBSE.
3. Aggrieved, the appellant filed the instant appeal before the Commission on the grounds that the information sought had not been provided.
4. The matter was heard by the Commission. The appellant stated that he sought enrollment form filed by Dr. Atul Chhabra, a student who alleges to had qualified CBSE All India Pre-Medical Examination in the year 1989-90 and further had joined Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Jamshedpur, then affiliated to Ranchi University. He added that he lost his younger brother aged 33 years, due to gross, reckless and criminal negligence of Dr. Atul Chhabra whose foundational skills in medical science is suspected. The guilty doctor could not correctly interpret a highly irregular ECG or even decipher six symptoms of an impending cardiac arrest. An FIR had been registered against Dr. Atul Chabbra under Section 304/304A of IPC. The Medical Council of India found Dr. Chhabra guilty of causing death due to gross negligence in treatment. In addition, criminal and consumer cases were also subjudice in Jharkhand and New Delhi against Dr. Chhabra.
4.1 The respondent CPIO stated that the All India Pre Medical Pre Entrance Examination in the year 1989-90 was held for 15% of the seats and inviting offline applications. The Medical Council of India provided the syllabus for the conduct of the said examination. The list of qualified candidates was sent to the Directorate General of Health Services (CGHS). As per the record retention schedule of this examination the applications forms of the candidates were weeded out after 60 days of the declaration of the result. These forms were preserved only if any matter was subjudice. At present the CBSE conducts the said examination for 100% seats as per judgment of the Hon'ble 2 Supreme Court of India dated 09.05.2016 on interlocutory applications filed by various medical colleges.
5. Having considered the submissions of both the parties, the Commission holds that as per Section 2(f) and (j) of the RTI Act, 2005 the CPIO is supposed to provide information which is held by or under the control of public authority. In this regard the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the matter of CBSE Vs. Aditya Bandopadhyaya & Ors 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. It is also not required to provide `advice' or `opinion' to an applicant, nor required to obtain and furnish any `opinion' or `advice' to an applicant. The reference to `opinion' or `advice' in the definition of `information' in section 2(f) of the Act, only refers to such material available in the records of the public authority". As per submissions of the respondent CPIO, the enrolment forms of all the candidates had been weeded out in respect of All India Pre Medical Pre Entrance Examination in the year 1989-90 by the CBSE as per their record retention policy and the same was not available in their records, no action on the part of the Commission is called for. The Commission, however, in the interest of transparency and accountability, directs the CPIO (i) to re-check the merit list in respect of All India Pre Medical Pre Entrance Examination 1989-90 in case it is available, and provide information to the appellant whether the name of Dr. Chhabra was there in the merit list; and (ii) provide copy of CBSE's record retention schedule for the examination 3 in question to the appellant within ten days of the receipt of the order of the Commission. The appeal is disposed of.
(Manjula Prasher) Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy:
Deputy Registrar. Address of the parties:
Shri Shishir Chand, The Central Public Information Officer, D-71, 1st Floor, Central Board of Secondary Education, Chattarpur Enclave, Shiksha Kendra, 2, Community Centre, New Delhi-110074. Preet Vihar, Delhi-110092.
The First Appellate Authority, Central Board of Secondary Education, Shiksha Kendra, 2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi-110092.4