Information regarding appellant’s application for appointment as Central Notary was denied stating that the application was not traceable - CIC: reveal the measures taken, probe into the missing of the application & to take measures to avoid it in future
5 Feb, 2015Information regarding appellant’s application for appointment as Central Notary was denied stating that the application was not traceable - CIC: reveal the measures taken by public authority to receive, register and respond to the applications for Notaryship, probe into the missing of the application & to take measures to avoid missing of such applications in future
ORDER
FACTS:
1. The Appellant through his RTI application dated 25.04.2013 had sought for information with respect his application for Notrary Public viz Serial Number, Date of receipt of the application and its Status. PIO replied on 12.06.2013 stating that the applciation was not traceable and will be replied as and when it is traced. Being unsatisfied with the information furnished, the appellant preferred First Appeal. FAA by his Order dated 17.09.2013 requested the applicant to submit his application again for processing of the matter again. Being unsatsified with the information furnished, the appellant approached the Commission in Second Appeal.
DECISION
2. The Commisison has gone through the record in the file. The appellant is seeking information on his application for appointment as Central Notary at Jalandhar. The Public Authority had informed him saying that his application was not traceable. FAA told him to apply again for considering his case. Subsequently, the Branch dealing with the Notary applications in the Legal Affairs Dept had also sent a reply to him on 13102014 confirming that their Branch had not received his Notary application, as per their record. The Officer who briefed the Commission said that they had seen a copy of the application got from the appellant and they observed that even if the same application, which was in the old format, was considered by the Dept of Legal Affairs, his case for grant of Notary licence would have been rejected, as a new format has been designed by the Respondent authority for applying for Central Notaryship. Therefore, there is no use for the appellant, on insisting the missing application.
3. In view of the above, the Commission directs the respondent authority to indicate the measures taken by them to receive, register and respond to the applications for Notaryship. The Commission also directs the Public Authority to probe into the missing of the application filed by the appellant by verifying in the Central Registry/Dak Section and other relevant record rooms and track the receipt of the application and inform the Commission along with a copy to the appellant as to what measures they are going to initiate to avoid missing of such applications. The above directions shall be complied with by the Public Authority within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.
4. The Commission also advises the appellant to follow the request of the FAA and file a fresh application for Central Notaryship. The appeal is disposed of.
(M. Sridhar Acharyulu)
Information Commissioner
Citation: h. Vivek Pattu v. Department of Legal Affairs Government of India in File No.CIC/SA/A/2014/000501