Disclosure of documents older than 20 years

Background

The appellant raised two queries (1) Complete information regarding investigation report of murder, on duty, of her only son including a copy of the same and other related reports; and (2) Complete information/ details regarding payment of Death cum Gratuity, pension etc. of her son. The PIO replied that the records could not be found as many of the records of that period were destroyed as the area had to face devastating floods during the year 1987.The FAA rejected the appeal on the ground that the desired information/documents pertains to period beyond 20 years and hence cannot be provided as per Section 8(3) Subject to the provisions of clauses (a), (c) and (i) of sub-section (1), any information relating to any occurrence, event or matter which has taken place, occurred or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made under section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section: Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period of twenty years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final, subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act. Subject to the provisions of clauses (a), (c) and (i) of sub-section (1), any information relating to any occurrence, event or matter which has taken place, occurred or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made under section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section: Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period of twenty years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final, subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act. of the RTI Act. The FAA also directed the PIO to make a thorough search of his office records and provide the desired information/ documents to the appellant within thirty days.

View of CIC

The Commission observed that the FAA cannot deny information in respect of Service Book/service records of appellant’s son which is to be kept permanently by the ‘public authority’ taking the plea of Section 8(3) Subject to the provisions of clauses (a), (c) and (i) of sub-section (1), any information relating to any occurrence, event or matter which has taken place, occurred or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made under section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section: Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period of twenty years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final, subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act. Subject to the provisions of clauses (a), (c) and (i) of sub-section (1), any information relating to any occurrence, event or matter which has taken place, occurred or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made under section 6 shall be provided to any person making a request under that section: Provided that where any question arises as to the date from which the said period of twenty years has to be computed, the decision of the Central Government shall be final, subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act. of the RTI Act. The Commission noted that the appellant has also not got ex gratia payment as recommended by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Patna. Therefore, the PIO was directed to reconstruct the service book of the appellant’s son from whatever documents available with the ‘public authority’ within two months of receipt of this order, enabling the appellant to get death-cum-gratuity, ex gratia, pension etc. pertaining to her son.

Citation: Smt. Shail Kumari Chaturvedi v. Office of the Commissioner of Customs in File no. CIC/SS/A/2011/000700