Information about a case when the show cause notices are pending for adjudication
16 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant filed separate applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Office of the Commissioner of Central Excise seeking records documents and information held by the Public Authority in respect of S.D. Enterprises Unit No. III under the Jurisdiction of Commissioner Central Excise including all correspondence exchanged with File notings with several other details. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that various show cause notices have been issued in respect of the unit which were pending adjudication and hence the information regarding all correspondence exchanged, file notings, file orders reports filed, action taken in respect of the unit during the period 2002-04 were protected under the provisions of section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act. Nine appeals were taken up by the CIC.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC) the respondent held that the case is still to reach its finality in as much as all the relied upon documents in respect of charges alleged in the show cause notice have already been provided and the stage of the case can be treated as at investigation stage. The respondent also submitted that the show cause notices issued to M/s. S.D. Enterprises Vasai were pending for adjudication by adjudicating authority and case has not attained its finality.
View of CIC
The Commission stated that pending adjudication which follows well established procedure under law the disclosure of information at this stage impede the process of investigation. The CIC held that the sought information could not be provided under section 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the RTI Act as the show cause notices were still pending for adjudication. The Commission also noted that a number of queries of the appellant were in the nature of questioning the action/decision of the investigating authorities and seeking reasons for the same. Such queries could not be termed as information as defined under section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act. The Commission finds no reasons to interfere with the replies of the respondent in all the nine instant appeals filed by the appellant.
Comments
During the hearing before the CIC, it was mentioned by the respondents that 95 applications over a period of 1 year involving 402 questions have been filed. Such use of the RTI Act to divert the investigation is not uncommon and hence, the PIO should know the RTI Act thoroughly and remain vigilant to deal with such situations.
Citation: Mr. Deepak Agrawal v. Office of the Commissioner of Central Excise in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2011/000906, 000907,000908, 000819, 000904, 000905,000926, 000927, 001100
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/964
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission