Should orders of different FAA in relation to single RTI application be appealed separately?
21 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seeking the inputs received by MHA from all the States/ Union Territories (UTs) pertaining to human trafficking. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the MHA had issued an advisory to all the States/ UTs and has also forwarded the same to him while replying to another RTI application filed by him. The PIO also stated that all the States/ UTs were advised to take action as per advisory to combat and prevent human trafficking. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) upheld the order of the PIO and also informed the appellant that Police and Public Order are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and primarily and it is the responsibility of the State Governments to prevent detect, investigate and prosecute this crime.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) noted that requisite information relating to MHA and permissible under the RTI Act has been provided to the appellant. For rest of information, the Commission advised the appellant to file separate appeals before the Commission against each of the public authorities.
Citation: Mr. Gopal Kansara v. Ministry of Home Affairs, in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/000725
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/663
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