Demand for the state and district-wise list of the Chakma tribal population under RTI
1 Mar, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Office of the Registrar General India (ORGI) seeking a state-wise and district-wise list of the Chakma tribal population such as male /female /minor male/ minor female as per the Census reports since 1980 to 2012. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information stating that the required information is not available in compiled form. The PIO also informed the appellant that the requested information is ‘published’ information and is available in public domain and he could gather the same from any standard library of his State/ City or from the Library of ORGI.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the information requested is not so voluminous that it cannot be provided to the appellant. During the hearing, the respondent admitted that the information requires only photocopying and not compiling. The Commission directed the PIO to provide information pertaining to State-wise / District-wise population of Chakma tribal population in respect of the three Census operations.
Comments
The view of the different benches of the CIC has varied in cases of whether the photocopies of the documents which are in public domain should be provided. In the interest of transparency, the PIO should provide the copies unless it is voluminous or requires compilation.
Citation: Mr. Samir Chakma v. Office of the Registrar General India in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/002498
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1085
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission