Appellant: Rs. 4,414 was charged for supplying of 906 pages, out of which 406 pages were irrelevant - Respondent agreed to refund the balance amount to the appellant in consultation with the DoPT after verifying from ACES the number of relevant pages
23 Jul, 2018ORDER
Facts:
1. The appellant filed RTI application dated 04-07-2017 seeking miscellaneous information regarding Atomic Energy Central School (AECS), Indore viz. no. of teachers/staff/students; details of admissions; marks secured by students etc.
2. The appellant filed second appeal on 19-12-2017 before the Commission on the ground that information should be provided to her.
Hearing:
3. Both the parties participated in the hearing through video conferencing. Mr. Ganesan represented the respondent. The written submissions are taken on record.
4. The appellant disputed the no. of pages sent by the respondent. She stated that Rs. 4,414 was charged for supplying of 906 pages, out of which 406 pages are irrelevant. Further, she stated that the Mumbai Headquarters should verify the information sent to her by the Principal of the AECS, Indore who is also the APIO.
5. The respondent stated that actually 1,385 pages were sent to the appellant. He agreed to verify the information sent by the Principal of the AECS, Indore who is also the APIO. Further, he stated that they will refund the balance amount to the appellant in consultation with the DoPT after verifying the correct no. of relevant pages. In this regard, he agreed to send a reply to the appellant, within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order.
Discussion/observation:
6. This Commission observed that the respondent should take action as agreed to in para 5 above. Further, this Commission observed that the APIO (Principal of the AECS, Indore) should not have endorsed the copy of his reply to the appellant which was addressed to the PIO, AEES, Mumbai. As per the RTI Act, 2005, it is the responsibility of the CPIO to provide information to the RTI applicant.
Decision:
7. The respondent is directed to take action as per para 6 above.
The appeal is disposed of.
Copy of the order be given to the parties free of cost.
(Radha Krishna Mathur)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Swati Pathak v. Atomic Energy Education Society in Appeal No. CIC/AEESO/A/2017/183670, Date of Decision: 09-07-2018