CIC- furnish an affidavit for non-availability of records sought in RTI application
19 Dec, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Lady Hardinge Medical College claiming that his wife had given birth to a baby girl there and he wanted to know the details of the doctors who were in the operation theatre during that period, after how much time she was brought to the ward room etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that it is not possible to provide information sought against points as the case sheet of 2001 had been weeded out as per hospital policy. The PIO also informed that some of the information sought pertained to Department of Anesthesia and Blood Bank who have informed that records of 2001 are not available with them. The PIO stated that the only information regarding this case available is an entry in a particular book indicating the birth of a female baby.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent submitted that the records sought by the appellant were not available as they are supposed to retain the records for only seven years as per schedule for preservation of records. The appellant also wanted to know the details of doctors and nurses who had attended his wife. The respondent stated that this information too is not available in the records. The appellant refused to accept this reply from the respondent.
View of CIC
The Commission directed the PIO to furnish an affidavit providing therein the factual situation and affirming the position that the information sought by the appellant could not be furnished due to non-availability of records along with the reasons for its non-availability.
Comments
Mere completion of the retention period of the records is not a sufficient cause for the denial of information. The PIO should be able to produce the destruction memo to show that the records have actually been destroyed.
Citation: Mr. Virender Pal Gupta v. Lady Hardinge Medical College in File No: CIC/AD/C/2012/001575
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/881
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission