CIC: Section 6(3) only authorises the public authority to transfer the request to another public authority & does not confer any power on the PIO to record his view with respect to the information sought - application should be transferred within 5 days
15 Mar, 2014CIC: Section 6(3) only authorises the public authority to transfer the request for information to another public authority and does not confer any power on the PIO to record his view with respect to the information sought in the application - the transfer of an application should be made as soon as practicable but in no case later than five days from the date of receipt of the application
ORDER
The present appeal, filed by Shri Ashok Kumar against Cabinet Secretariat was taken up for hearing on 18.02.2014 when the Respondents were present through Shri S.K. Valiathan, Under Secretary & CPIO. The Appellant was represented by his authorised representative, Shri C.M. Sharma.
2. The Appellant through an RTI application dated 05.12.2012 wanted to obtain attested copies of certain documents, including Cabinet Note through which the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) was carved out along with copies of the letters and note sheet related to the said Cabinet Note; name and address of the concerned officials/officers who looked after implementation of above Cabinet Note appropriately in the Government of India and/or in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi; documents related to the rules and regulations and procedures that Government of India adopts for effective implementation of Cabinet Note and so on.
3. The CPIO replied to this application vide his letter dated 28.12.2012 which, to the extent it is relevant, reads as follows: “…it is stated that the information relating to the decision of the Cabinet is exempt from disclosure under section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the RTI Act, 2005. However, the Ministry of Environment & Forests, the Ministry concerned in this case, may take a decision to disclose the information in terms of the first proviso under section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the RTI Act. Accordingly, your application is being transferred to the Ministry of Environment & Forests, in terms of section 6(3) of the RTI Act.”
4. Aggrieved by the CPIO’s reply/action, the Appellant filed an appeal dated 01.02.2013 before the Appellate Authority which the Appellate Authority decided vide his order dated 08.02.2013 wherein he recorded that “…the business of the Government of India is disposed of in the Ministries concerned with the approval of the competent authority, and the Ministries concerned are fully aware of all pertinent issues. Merely because the decision had been taken by the Cabinet, the responsibility does not get transferred to the Cabinet Secretariat. Whether the matter is complete or over would only be known to the Ministry concerned and therefore the information sought can be made available to the Applicant only by the Ministry concerned and it would not be within the jurisdiction of the Cabinet Secretariat to provide such information.” He accordingly advised the Appellant to pursue the matter with the concerned CPO in the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
5. The Appellant then filed the present appeal before the Commission challenging the decision of the Appellate Authority.
6. During the hearing, the Respondents, while maintaining their stand as stated in the order of the Appellate Authority, also inform the Commission that the CPIO, Ministry of Environment and Forests, to whom the Appellant’s RTI application was transferred by them, had further transferred it to Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE). The Appellant, on his part, states that he has not received the information so far.
7. Having heard the submissions and perused the records, the Commission agrees with the Appellate Authority that the information sought by the Appellant can only be provided by the Ministry concerned (i.e. Ministry of Environment and Forests in the present case). Therefore the RTI application has been rightly transferred to the CPIO, Ministry of Environment and Forests. However, the decision of the CPIO, Ministry of Environment and Forests, as reported by the Respondents above, to further transfer the RTI application to Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education is not correct since it is the Ministry concerned that is responsible in the matters like the present one.
8. In view of the above, the Commission hereby directs the CPIO, Ministry of Environment and Forests to furnish an appropriate reply to the Appellant corresponding to his RTI application dated 05.12.2012 within 3 weeks of receipt of this order.
9. The Commission would also like to advise the CPIO, Cabinet Secretariat that he should not make general statement about the disclosure liability of a given set of information while transferring RTI application under section 6(3) of the RTI Act. Section 6(3) only authorises the public authority to transfer the request for information to another public authority. It does not confer any power on the CPIO to record his view with respect to the information sought in the application, which he is transferring to another public authority. Further the proviso of section 6(3) states that the transfer of an application pursuant to this subsection section shall be made as soon as practicable but in no case later than five days from the date of receipt of the application. However in this case although the RTI application dated 05.12.2012 of the Appellant was admittedly received by the CPIO, Shri S.K. Valiathan on 10.12.2012, he transferred it to the CPIO, Ministry of Environment and Forests only on 28.12.2012 that is with a delay of 14 days excluding mandatory time period of 5 days. The CPIO, Cabinet Secretariat (Shri S.K. Valiathan) is therefore hereby advised to take note of the legal position explained hereinabove and be more careful in future while dealing with RTI applications.
10. Appeal is disposed of accordingly.
(Sushma Singh)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Ashok Kumar v. Cabinet Secretariat in Case No. CIC/SM/A/2013/000574SS