Commission took a serious view that the FAA had failed to discharge his statutory obligation assigned to him u/s 19(6) of the RTI Act by not adjudicating on appellant’s appeal filed before him - CIC: FAA is warned to be careful in future
26 May, 2015ORDER
The appellant, Shri Shantaram Walavalkar, submitted RTI application dated 24.12.2013 before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), The National Insurance Co. Ltd. (NICL), Mumbai seeking information on nine points such as copy of prospect, policy document and underwriting conditions which were part of proposal form; whether the policy was available for lifetime renewal as per New Health Policy, 2013; whether the policy was available for renewal to Spouse after death of proposer; correspondence of Head Office with IRDA and IRDA’s correspondence with HO on matters related to approvals of New Health Policy, 2013; copies of Head Office’s internal memos, circulars and notes to Branches/DO/ RO and TPA related to New Health Policy etc,
2. The CPIO vide letter dated 28.01.2014 sent a point-wise reply to the appellant. Dissatisfied with the reply of the CPIO the appellant filed an appeal on 30.01.2014 before the first appellate authority (FAA). The FAA had not adjudicated on appellant’s first appeal.
3. Thereafter, the appellant filed the instant appeal before the Commission.
4. The appellant stated that the FAA had not passed any order on the appeal and the CPIO had not provided any satisfactory information on the issues raised by him through his RTI application. The respondents stated that the CPIO given a pointwise reply to the appellant and reiterated their stand.
5. Having considered the submissions of the parties, the Commission holds that the CPIO had sent a clear response on each of the points to the appellant in response to his RTI application. The Commission, however, takes a serious view that the FAA had failed to discharge his statutory obligation assigned to him u/s 19(6) An appeal under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall be disposed of within thirty days of the receipt of the appeal or within such extended period not exceeding a total of forty-five days from the date of filing thereof, as the case may be, for reasons to be recorded in writing. of the RTI Act by not adjudicating on appellant’s appeal filed before him. The FAA is warned to be careful in future while dealing with RTI matters. The above appeal is disposed of.
(Manjula Prasher)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Shantaram Walavalkar v. National Insurance Co. Ltd. In Appeals: No. CIC/MP/A/2014/900775