Central Information Commission
Mrkailash Chandra Panda vs Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited on 30 January, 2015
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Club Building (Near Post Office)
Old JNU Campus, New Delhi - 110067
Tel: +91-11-26101592
File No. CIC/BS/A/2014/000433/6874
30 January 2015
Relevant Facts emerging from the Appeal:
Appellant : Mr. Kailash Chandra Panda
Telephone Bhawan,
Rayagada - 765001 (Odisha)
Respondent : CPIO & Dy. General Manager
BSNL
O/o the General Manager Telecom
District: Koraput - 764020
RTI application filed on : 03/05/2012
PIO replied on : 01/06/2012
First appeal filed on : 25/09/2013 (CIC Remand)
First Appellate Authority order : No Order
Second Appeal dated : 04/11/2013
Information sought:-
The applicant has sought the following information:-
ANNEXURE - 1 Provide duplicate SIM activation report at the following BSNL Customer Service Centres in Koraput Telecom District on 30/04/2012 as per the following format.
Station Prepaid Postpaid C-Topup Total Issued by Activated by
(Name & (Name &
Designation) Designation)
Bissamcuttack
Gunupur
Jeypore
Koraput
Laxmipur
Malkangiri
Nabarangpur
Rayagada
Sunabeda
Umerkote
ANNEXURE - 2
Provide the particulars of working BSNL residential service telephones in Koraput telecom District as per the following format.
Sl. Phone No. with STD Name of the Designation Working Since Outstanding
Page 1 of 5
Code Employee dues
ANNEXURE - 3
Provide the particulars of payment made by the Sr. Accounts Officer (Cash), O/o GMTD Koraput in the month of Mar 2012 as per the following format.
Sl. Date of Cash/Cheque/ Amount To whom Purpose Voucher
Payment Internet bank paid No.
ANNEXURE - 4
Provide the latest vacancy position of staff in Koraput telecom District as per the following format station wise.
Station Designation No. of staff No. of staff No. of Vacant/Surplus
required (A) posted (B) vacancy/Surplu sice date
s (A-B) (DD/MM/YYYY)
ANNEXURE - 5
Provide the particulars of all the staff employed in the establishment of GMTD Koraput as per the following format.
Sl Name of Designatio Statio Date Date of Birth Caste Date of Category
. the n n of (DD/MM/YYY (OC/SC/OB entry in (Indian/
Employe postin Y) C) departme Divisiona
e g at nt l)
the
prese
nt
station
ANNEXURE - 6
Provide the certified copy of ACE 2 account & vouchers of SDE (CMTS), O/o GMTD Koraput for the month of March & April 2012.
ANNEXURE - 7 Provide the schedule of works performed by the following employees for the month of April 2012
1. Sri Mahendra Kumar Kamila, Sr. TOA Nabarangpur.
2. Sri Chandra Mohan Soren, Sr. TOA Koraput.
3. Sri Bijaya Kumar Pradhan, Sr. TOA Rayagada
4. Sri P Sai, RM Rayagada.
5. Sri Kamala Kanta Mohapatra, TM Rayagada
6. Sri M Rami Naidu, TM Rayagada.
7. Sri B Anand Rao, TM Rayagada.
ANNEXURE - 8 Page 2 of 5 Provide the name and designation of the persons working at the following online Telephone Revenue collection counters on 28/04/2012 in the following format.
Sl. Station Location Name of the Designation Telephone no.
Employee with STD
Code
1. Gunupur
2. Koraput
3. Malkangiri
4. Nabarangpur
5. Rayagada
ANNEXURE - 9
Provide the particulars of departmental vehicles running in Koraput Telecom District as per the following format.
Sl. Registration No. Used by Station Name of the Designation motor driver ANNEXURE - 10 Provide the name and designation of the persons working at the 'Help Desk' of BSNL Customer Service Centre, R K Nagar Rayagada as per the following format. Sl. Date Name of the employee Designation Worked as per which order 1 28/04/2012 2 30/04/2012 3 01/05/2012 4 02/05/2012 ANNEXURE - 11 Provide the absent statement of SDE (Internal & CSC), Rayagada for the month of April 2012.
ANNEXURE - 12 Kindly provide the absent statement of SDE (NWOP-City) Rayagada for the month of April 2012.
ANNEXURE - 13 Provide the particulars of disciplinary proceeding pending since more than 6 months against employees working in BSNL Koraput Telecom District as per the following format.
Sl. Name of the Designation Station Initiated by (name & Letter No. &
Employee designation of Date
disciplinary authority)
ANNEXURE - 14
Provide the certified copy of the attendance register of O/o SDO Telegraphs Rayagada for the month of September 2011 to April 2012 (8 months). All the pages must be countersigned by the CPIO.
Page 3 of 5ANNEXURE - 15 Provide the certified copy of attendance register of O/o SDE (Internal & CSC), Rayagada for the month of April 2012. All the pages must be countersigned by the CPIO.
ANNEXURE - 16 Provide the certified copy of the attendance register of O/o SDE (NWOP-City), Rayagada for the month of April 2012. All the pages must be countersigned by the CPIO.
Grounds for the Second Appeal:
The CPIO has not provided the desired information.
Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:
The following were present Appellant: Mr. Kailash Chandra Panda through VC Respondent: Mr. A K Sethy CPIO through VC The CPIO stated that from a plain reading of the appellant's RTI application dated 03/05/2012 it is apparent that he has sought huge and voluminous information spread over several subjects and in a format designed by him and compiling the same would disproportionately divert the limited resources of the public authority. He contended that the information sought is unrelated to transparency & accountability and the only purpose is to harass the public authority. To support his contention the CPIO quoted the Hon'ble Supreme Court's decision dated 09/08/2011 [Civil Appeal No. 6454 of 2011 Central Board of Secondary Education & Anr. vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay & Ors] holding as under:
"Indiscriminate and impractical demands or directions under RTI Act for disclosure of all and sundry information (unrelated to transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities and eradication of corruption) would be counter-productive as it will adversely affect the efficiency of the administration and result in the executive getting bogged down with the non productive work of collecting and furnishing information. The Act should not be allowed to be misused or abused, to become a tool to obstruct the national development and integration, or to destroy the peace, tranquility and harmony among its citizens. Nor should it be converted into a tool of oppression or intimidation of honest officials striving to do their duty. The nation does not want a scenario where 75% of the staff of public authorities spends 75% of their time in collecting and furnishing information to applicants instead of discharging their regular duties. The threat of penalties under the RTI Act and the pressure of the authorities under the RTI Act should not lead to employees of a public authorities prioritizing `information furnishing', at the cost of their normal and regular duties."
Decision notice:
The Hon'ble High Court of Gujarat in a similar matter vide its decision dated 14/11/2014 [SCA No.16480 of 2014 - P M Patel vs. CIC & others] has held that the observations of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India cited above by the CPIO would apply with full force in the facts of this case.
We, therefore, agree with the respondent that providing such voluminous information would disproportionately divert their resources from day to day work. The appellant has not established Page 4 of 5 any larger public interest, which would warrant a directive to the respondent to collect and compile the information, sought by him, even at the cost of diverting their resources from day to day work.
The matter is closed.
BASANT SETH Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy:
(R. L. Gupta) Dy. Registrar/Designated Officer Page 5 of 5