Central Information Commission
Shri Kunjbihari B Agrawal vs Centre For Dna Fingerprinting And ... on 22 April, 2009
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
.....
F.No.CIC/AT/A/2008/01407
Dated, the 22nd April, 2009.
Appellant : Shri Kunjbihari B Agrawal
Respondents : Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics
This second-appeal came up for hearing through videoconferencing on 06.04.2009. Appellant was present at the NIC videoconferencing facility at Mumbai while the respondents were present at the NIC facility at Hyderabad. Commission's hearing was conducted from the NIC facility at the CIC's New Delhi office.
2. Appellant's RTI-application dated 17.04.2008 comprised the following queries:-
"1. What has your institution done to the blood sample of Mr.K.B.Agrawal & Mrs.Arti Agrawal dated 19.03.2004 after conducting DNA testing and issuing the subsequent reports on 08.04.2004? The reference no. of the report is CDFD/dfp/2004-1436.
2. Please give me the copy of "CONSENT OF Mr.K.B.Agrawal & Mrs.Arti Agrawal" and "COLOUR XEROX of the 2nd DNA Test report" and the "OTHER REQUIRED DOCUMENTS" used while processing the 2nd DNA testing conducted in June 2004 reference no.CDFD/dfp/2004-1436/1. Please note that the 2nd DNA testing was conducted without the consent of Mr. & Mrs. Agrawal on the same old blood sample submitted by them on 19.03.2004 which is about more than 2 & half months old.
3. What is the fee that your institution charged for conducting 1st DNA test dated 08.04.2004 and similarly for 2nd DNA testing dates 10.06.2004? I would request you to give me a copy of the Invoice/Billing Document/Receipt for both of the above-mentioned tests.
4. Between January 2002 to December 2007, what is the number of cases in which you had to perform 2nd DNA testing without the request / consent of the victim's parents / relative and/or without court order using a blood sample which was precisely more than 2 & half months old? AT-22042009-05.doc Page 1 of 3
5. Please give me the copy of the letter dated 28.04.2004 sent by you to the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Mumbai."
3. These queries were replied to by the CPIO on 26.06.2008 and the appellant's first-appeal was decided by the Appellate Authority on 17.07.2008.
4. As regards queries at Sl.Nos.1 and 2, respondents stated during the hearing that although they have furnished to the appellant some replies to the best of their knowledge, the actual holder of these information was the Joint Commissioner (Crimes), Mumbai.
5. Respondents are directed to transfer these two queries to the appropriate public authority who, according to the respondents' knowledge, holds the information. This may be done within two weeks of the receipt of this order.
6. Reply to the query at Sl.No.3 has been provided to the appellant by the respondents through AA's order dated 17.07.2008. As such, there shall be no further disclosure obligation as regards this query.
7. In regard to query at Sl.Nos.4 and 5, it is noticed that respondents have replied to the query at Sl.No.4 in terms of the Rules governing such tests while the appellant's query was about the number of cases which were taken up for DNA testing without request / consent of the "victims" parents/relatives and/or without court order, etc. The respondents' reply to query at Sl.No.4 is not entirely congruent with the contents of the query.
8. It is directed that Appellate Authority shall reconsider this matter (regarding item 4 of the query) and formulate a specific reply to the appellant. This shall be done within three weeks of the receipt of this order by the AA.
9. Similarly, Appellate Authority is directed to reconsider the reply to the query at Sl.No.5 as the reply now given is at variance with the query made by the appellant.
10. Matter is remitted back to the Appellate Authority with the direction to consider de-novo queries at Sl.Nos.4 and 5, after giving a personal hearing to the appellant, and to decide the matter in first-appeal in terms of the directives above. AT-22042009-05.doc Page 2 of 3
11. Matter disposed of with these directions.
12. Copy of this direction be sent to the parties.
( A.N. TIWARI ) INFORMATION COMMISSIONER AT-22042009-05.doc Page 3 of 3