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2. The petitioner has been a member of the Sangha Mitra CGHS ("Society") since 1995. However, during the course of her membership, a number of disputes have arisen leading to several rounds of litigation.

Amongst various allegations, she accused the Society of committing fraud, embezzlement and accounts-tampering; in this regard she had filed several RTI applications seeking audit reports and various other documents pertaining to the working of the Society as well as its accounts. She claims to W.P.(C) 6532/2013 Page 1 have been seeking these documents by filing RTI applications since 2006, for almost 10 years. She alleges that despite several representations in this regard to the Society and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies ("RCS") no action was taken and it is her case that the Society was committing further fraud.

7. The issue in the present writ petition stems from RTI applications that were filed by the petitioner before the SPIO. The petitioner had sought information from the SPIO regarding documents and accounts pertaining to the Society as well as minutes of the general body meeting of the Society. She had also sought information regarding charges payable to the DDA. Despite communication by the SPIO to the Society the latter gave no replies.

8. The petitioner, aggrieved by the inaction of the Society, approached the First Appellate Authority who, on 20.12.2007 directed the SPIO to procure information sought by the petitioner from the Society by 04.01.2008 and further supply it to the petitioner by 08.01.2008. It was also directed that in case of failure on the part of the Society to furnish information sought from it, suitable action would be initiated against it in terms of provisions of Section 139 of the DCS Act. Subsequently, the Society on 01.04.2008, granted liberty to the petitioner to approach its office and inspect the records; in this regard a date and time was granted to her. As for the information W.P.(C) 6532/2013 Page 5 sought by her regarding charges payable to the DDA, the SPIO sent a letter, dated 09.01.2008 to the Society, which it subsequently replied to. In their reply the Society stated that the information sought by the petitioner was voluminous and that the petitioner was required to be specific as to the information sought by her. It also stated that once the petitioner deposited the amount towards photocopying the documents they would be able to provide her with the information. However, in the intervening period of 20.12.2007 and 01.04.2008, the petitioner filed an appeal under Section 19 of the RTI Act, 2005, before the CIC on 15.02.2008. The appeal before the CIC pertained to the order of the First Appellate Authority dated 20.12.2007 and the letter of reference from the SPIO dated 09.01.2008. In her appeal, the petitioner had contended that the staff of the RCS was colluding with Cooperative Societies (such as the present one; Sangha Mitra CGHS) and were inflicting a great deal of harassment on innocent members of such societies. The respondents, on the other hand, argued that the appellant had filed large number of RTI applications with no particular purpose. The respondents pointed out that under Section 139 of the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act, the appellant as a member of the Cooperative Society, viz Sangha Mitra CGHS had all the right to receive information requested by her from the cooperative society including inspection of records and, in case she did not get any response from the Society she was entitled to appeal before the officers of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

11. The question that arises before this Court in this case is whether the petitioner could directly seek information from the Society and whether the Commission was correct in dismissing her appeal. The petitioner approached the CIC under Section 19 of the RTI Act, 2005 against the order of the First Appellate Authority and the SPIO - both of whom are officials of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. However, the CIC refused to grant relief on the ground that in the case of Cooperative Societies, RTI Act applied indirectly, and all the information pertaining to the Society, which is held by the RCS would be available to her. In other words, the correct way to access information would be to approach the RCS under Section 139 of the DCS Act.

19. In the light of the above findings, the applications of the Petitioner shall be considered by the RCS, to the extent the information is available with his office. In regard to the information not available, the RCS shall indicate clearly what material does not exist, in an order. It is then open to the Petitioner to seek such information under Section 139 of the DCS Act. The writ petition is partly allowed in the above terms.

S. RAVINDRA BHAT (JUDGE) DEEPA SHARMA (JUDGE) MARCH 17, 2016 W.P.(C) 6532/2013 Page 13