Details of properties left behind in Pakistan by the refugees were sought under RTI
21 Oct, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking information regarding properties left behind in Pakistan by the displaced persons and as to where these persons are now residing in India. The appellant requested for complete details of persons who left India and have settled in Pakistan during partition of India, along with place of living. He referred to some people and wanted to know if they were still alive and if not, their date of death along with the death certificates, details of their successor and permanent address. The Public Information Officer (PIO) requested the appellant to provide the Claim Index Number and CAF number of the claimant.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent stated that if the appellant is ready to give Claim Index Number/ CAF number they would be in a position to trace the file. The respondent submitted that there were around 13.0 lakh files and it is not possible to trace out the file without the Claim Index Number.
View of CIC
The Commission accepted the submissions of the respondent and rejected the appeal.
Citation: Mr. U. C. Choudhury v. Ministry of Home Affairs in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001672
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/740
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission