Central Information Commission
Binu S vs Indian Army on 25 August, 2021
Author: Vanaja N Sarna
Bench: Vanaja N Sarna
क य सच ु ना आयोग
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
बाबा गंगनाथ माग
Baba Gangnath Marg
मु नरका, नई द ल - 110067
Munirka, New Delhi-110067
File no.: CIC/IARMY/A/2019/160102
In the matter of:
Binu S
... Appellant
VS
Central Public Information Officer
Record Office
GREF Dighi Camp,
Pune - 411015
2. Central Public Information Officer
HQ DGBR (DDG Pers),
Seema Sadak Bhawan, Ring Road,
Delhi Cantt - New Delhi - 110010
3. Central Public Information Officer
HQ DGBR (D&V),
Seema Sadak Bhawan,
Ring Road, Delhi Cantt
New Delhi - 110010
4. Central Public Information Officer
HQ CE(P) Vartak,
PIN - 931719, C/o 99 APO
5. Central Public Information Officer
HQ 763 BRTF,
PIN 930753, C/o 99 APO
6. Central Public Information Officer
OC 120 RCC,
PIN - 930120, C/o 99 APO
...Respondent
1
RTI application filed on : 18/07/2019 CPIO replied on : 26/07/2019 First appeal filed on : 07/10/2019 First Appellate Authority order : 22/10/2019 Second Appeal dated : 04/12/2019 Date of Hearing : 24/08/2021 Date of Decision : 24/08/2021 The following were present: Appellant: Not present
Respondent: Shri R B Raju, ASO & CPIO, Pune, Shri Sanjeev Sonewal, Assistant Engineer & CPIO, Itanagar, Shri Arjun Mallik, Assistant Executive Engineer & CPIO, Tawang, Shri Ashok Kumar, SAO & CPIO, Hqrs, New Delhi.
Information Sought:
The appellant has sought the following information:
1. Provide the copies of Duty Slip and Car Diary of GREF Vehicle Maruti Gypsy BA No. 16B-15756 for the period from 10 Jul 2019 (0800 hrs) to 18 Jul 2019 (2000 hrs).
2. Provide the copies of the Govt orders or Executive orders under which it stands provisioned to give Govt Vehicles to the family members of GREF Army officials or any civilians for their personal use like shopping, tour, picnic, pilgrimage, jolly trip, etc.
3. Provide the copies from the Register that is maintained in GREF Centre/Records where entries are recorded showing utilization of aforesaid Vehicle by civilians/ family members of govt officials during the same period and also the details of cost incurred against such usages as well as fuel consumption with exact details of amount recovered, if any, on account of such utilisation.
Grounds for Second Appeal The CPIO did not provide the desired information.
Submissions made by Appellant and Respondent during Hearing:
The appellant was not present to plead his case. However, in his second appeal memo he had stated that the CPIO and the FAA have failed to provide the desired information to him till date without any valid reason.2
The CPIO reiterated the contents of his written submissions dated 13.08.2021.
Observations:
From a perusal of the relevant case records, it is noted that an appropriate reply was given to the appellant on 14.08.2019 whereby he was informed that BRO being a subordinate and executive arm of Border Road Development Board, is an exempted organisation under Section 24 of the RTI Act and does not come under the purview of the RTI Act. It is to be noted by the appellant that Border Roads Organisation has been placed in the Second Schedule of the RTI Act vide notification No. GSR 347 dated 28/09/2005 by Central Government in exercise of the power conferred by sub-section 2 of Section 24 of the RTI Act.
The status of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in relation to BRDB has been clarified by Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (BRDB) vide their I.D Note No.F.06/280/BRDB/ADMN-2005 dated 02.03.2006 and Memo No. BRDB/03/199/GE-1, dated 08.09.2009 that "the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is an executive arm of Border Road Development Board and is part of it.
Therefore, RTI Act does not apply to BRO except in cases of corruption and human rights violation, as specified in the Act" and that "BRO draws its work force from two streams i.e. Army and Civil. The personnel from Civil stream are called as General Reserve Engineer Force,(popularly known as GREF). The officers and subordinates from the Army are posted to BRO on Extra Regimental Employment (ERE) tenure for a period of two and half to three years."
In view of this, nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the BRO. For better clarity, Section 24(1) of the Act is reproduced below:
(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being 2 organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this subsection: Provided further that in the case of information sought for is in respect of allegations of violation of human rights, the information shall only be provided after the approval of the Central Information Commission, and notwithstanding anything contained in Section 7, such 3 information shall be provided within forty five days from the date of the receipt of request.
This has been re-asserted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court vide its decision in Civil Appeal No. 6454 arising out of SLP No. 7526/2009 in CBSE Vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay case stating: ''Exclusion of the Act in entirety under Section 24 to intelligence and security organizations specified in the Second Schedule even though they may be "public authorities", (except in regard to information with reference to allegations of corruption and human rights violations)''.
However, the initial reply of the CPIO and the order of the FAA were grossly improper as there is no requirement under the RTI Act for a citizen to give his identity proof unless there is some serious doubt about the identity of a person filing the RTI application and even if the appellant was an employee of the same organisation, he was entitled to get a proper reply as per the provisions of the RTI Act. During the hearing, Shri R B Raju submitted that he being an employee of the organisation was not given the information as he is already aware of the same. This submission is also highly unacceptable as the CPIO was well aware that the appellant is a serving employee in his organisation only and there was therefore, no requirement of seeking his identity details.
In this regard, the Commission refers to the order passed by the Commission in File No. CIC/OK/C/2008/00016 "9. During the hearing the Commission noted that the Respondent had asked the Appellant to specify that he was a bonafide Indian citizen saying that this was necessary under Section 3 of the RTI-Act.
10. The Commission considers this attitude of the Respondents as against the spirit of the RTI-Act. Actually Section 3 of the Act reads, 'Subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information'. Nowhere does it say, nor imply, that a person would be required to prove his citizenship every time that he was asking for information. Thus, there are thousands of applications which are considered without a person providing a certificate to prove that he is an Indian citizen. This means that in the rarest of rare cases where there is a doubt that the applicant is indeed an Indian citizen, the Public Authority may ask him for proof. This, however, can only be an exception rather than the rule."
4The Commission therefore expresses its displeasure at the conduct of the concerned CPIO for giving such an improper reply. It appears that the CPIO is not aware about the provisions of the RTI Act.
Decision:
In view of the above, the Commission upholds the reply of the CPIO dated 12.08.2019. However, a strict warning is issued to the concerned CPIO & the FAA, for such blatant violation of the RTI Act. They should note that such kind of act amounts to denial of information which violates the letter and spirit of the RTI Act. In case such a mistake is repeated in future by him, the Commission will be constrained to initiate penal proceedings u/s 20 of the RTI Act .
The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Vanaja N. Sarna (वनजा एन. सरना) Information Commissioner (सच ू नाआयु त) Authenticated true copy (अ भ मा णत स या पत त) A.K. Assija (ऐ.के. असीजा) Dy. Registrar (उप-पंजीयक) 011-26182594 / दनांक/ Date 5