Dear Shri Padmanabhanji,
In the case of High Court of Gujarat in Company Petition no 17 of 1996 the pages referred in the Judgments are not available on record? See the full judgment available on line and how bad words were used in Final Order!!!!
What should we do?
What should we do?
RTI will not give or supply any details. Say Pursis Filed by 4 Objectors and objection filed by me as back as in 1996. The records were not available for years ???!!
Reply,
Shah D J
On Wednesday, 14 January 2015 6:49 PM, "Padmanabhan Vijayaraghavan padmanabhan55@yahoo.com [aaykarbhavan]" <aaykarbhavan@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Claim that a file is missing or is not traceable has no legality under RTI
Posted on September 8, 2014In a significant decision Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that unless proved that record was destroyed as per the prescribed rules of destruction/ retention policy, it is deemed that record continues to be held by public authority. The decision has been posted at out wiki Segment, for those who want to use it as a reference. You can visit out wiki article here: Missing Files under RTI Act.
Claim of file missing or not traceable has no legality as it is not recognized as exception by RTI Act. By practice 'missing file' cannot be read into as exception in addition to exceptions prescribed by RTI Act. It amounts to breach of Public Records Act, 1993 and punishable with imprisonment up to a term of five years or with fine or both.Public Authority has a duty to initiate action for this kind of loss of public record, in the form of 'not traceable' or 'missing'. The Public Authority also has a duty to designate an officer as Records Officer and protect the records. A thorough search for the file, inquiry to find out public servant responsible, disciplinary action and action under Public Records Act, reconstruction of alternative file, relief to the person affected by the loss of file are the basic actions the Public Authority is legitimately expected to perform.Claim that a file is missing or is not traceable has no legality under RTI
Since the Commission has the power to direct disclosure of information provided, it is not exempted from such disclosure, it would also have the jurisdiction to direct an inquiry into the matter wherever it is claimed by the PIO/CPIO that the information sought by the applicant is not traceable/readily traceable/currently traceable.Even in a case where the PIO/CPIO takes a plea that the information sought by the applicant was never available with the government but, the Commission on the basis of the material available to it forms a prima facie opinion that the said information was in fact available with the government, it would be justified in directing an inquiry by a responsible officer of the department/office concerned, to again look into the matter rather deeply and verify whether such an information was actually available in the records of the government at some point of time or not.After all, it is quite possible that the required information may be located if a thorough search is made in which event, it could be possible to supply it to the applicant.Fear of disciplinary action, against the person responsible for loss of the information, will also work as a deterrence against the willful suppression of the information, by vested interests. It would also be open to the Commission, to make an inquiry itself instead of directing an inquiry by the department/office concerned.The decision is available in the CIC website here: Sh.Om Prakash Vs. Land & Building Dept, GNCTDYou can discuss this decision at our forum here! This is an extract of the decision available on the CIC public website, and is meant for generating interest in our readers only. For the true detailed and authentic copy you must download the decision from the CIC website!Share this:
V.Padmanabhan
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Posted by: Dipak Shah <djshah1944@yahoo.com>
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