Mr. R.I.

Singh Honble State Chief Information Commissioner, State Information Commission Punjab SCO 84-85, Sector 17-C, Chandigarh -160017 Email: scic@punjabmail.gov.in Mr. Naresh Gulati Honble State Chief Information Commissioner State Information Commission Haryana, SCO No. 70-71, Sector 8-C, Chandigarh - 160008 Email: ussichry@yahoo.co.in

RTIFED/SICP/Part-2/2014/064B/3101 Despite HC Snub-its Business as Usual - 2 31 January 2014 THROUGH E-MAIL

The working in the State Information Commission Haryana is even worse than that of teir counterpart in Punjab.

This Mail in original is also sent through e-mail to: - Chief Justice, Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh - Honble Central Chief Information Commission; - All Honble Chief Information Commissioners of All Honble State Information Commissions; - Honble Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training GOI New Delhi; - All Chief Secretaries of All State of India; - Home Secretary Chandigarh the Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh had cast upon a responsibility on you for the compliance. Please be kind to inform about the action taken and status report. - A copy is also sent to all RTI NGOs for making similar plea to concerned authorities in their state/area of operation.
Part-3 Despite High Court Snub, Its Business As Usual At SICP Appeal Case No. 2720 of 2013 vis--vis P&HHC CWP-4787 of 2011

Yet Another Bad Order from Mr. R.I. Singh, Hon'ble State Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab

Honble Sirs, This is further to RTIFED Communication bearinf reference No. RTIFED/SICP/DoPT dittos Calcutta HC/2014/064-A/2201 dated

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22 January 2014 and RTIFED/SICP/Part-2/2014/064B/2501 espite HC Snub-its Business as Usual - 2 dated 25 January 2014 sent through e-mail (copy attached) regarding the scathing strictures passed by Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh on an arbitrary decision dated 03 March 2011 delivered by Mr. R.I. Singh, Honble Chief Information Commissioner in a Complaint Case No. CC-341 of 2011. This communication may please be treated as part and parcel of the same. In the instant communication another order of Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab is under scanner. This impugned order has been passed by the Honble Commission on 27 January 2014, while hearing an appeal of Mr. Parbodh Chander Bali of Amritsar. This appeal was fixed for hearing for 27 January 2014 before Mr. R.I. Singh, Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab. Honble Commission decided to hear this appeal through video-conferencing facility. In its first and sole hearing, the respondent was absent and the appellant was not heard. The commission straightforwardly went ahead and pronounced the impugned order undermining all the procedure, processes and the law in Appeal Case No. 2720 of 2013 (copy enclosed). In the instant case RTIFED is discussing this bizarre order dated 27 January 2014 of Mr. R.I. Singh, Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab. This impugned order has been pronounced on the Appeal (copy enclosed) filed by one Mr. P.C. Bali before the commission against the Public Information Officer, o/o Municipal Corporation, Amritsar. This impugned order is in complete divergence with the directions and the strictures passed by the Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh in the writ petition CWP-4787 of 2011 (copy was already attached with earlier communications, however attached again). The brief history of the case is that Mr. Bali sought the information regarding the House Tax and Property Tax Assessments of the two such bursars namely, Shivala Bag Bhaiyan Amritsar Trust and Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Public School Amritsar. Public Information Officer of the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar had supplied partial information. On appeal, the First Appellate Authority also decided in favour of the appellant and directed the Public Information Officer to respond within 15 days. Having not heard anything from the Public Information Officer, Mr. Bali filed an Appeal under Section 19(3) of the Right to Information Act 2005. The impugned order under discussion is the impugned order made on this appeal in its first and lone hearing in the absence of the respondent, but in
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his favour, held through video-conference, in utter disregard to the provisions of the law and the pronouncements of the higher courts. The Commission has straight forward pronounced that the information is related to the Third Party and issued direction to the Public Information Officer to de-novo after hearing the parties and by following the procedure laid down by law, keeping the provisions of RTI Act, despite being the fact that appellant was saddled with a favourable order from the Departmental Appellate Authority. 1) In this case, the Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab erred by pronouncing the information sought relating to the third party, without giving detailed reasons as to how he has arrived at such a decision. For the quasi-judicial authorities, it is mandatory to make a reasoned order. The information relates to the public authority and not to the third party. It is a not even a case of Section 2(f) which defines "information" and which means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;. RTIFEDs emphasis here is on the words information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force of this section. PIO is obliged to provide information even where he can access the same and lay his hand under any other law, even on the information relating a private party. The House Tax and Property tax is a major part of the revenue of the Municipal Corporation Amritsar. This amount is public amount and is spent on the well-being of the public. If a big institution does not pay or fails to pay and if the Municipal Corporation Amritsar fails to recover the tax from certain entities, a citizen is, thus, performing a duty in LPI (Larger Public Interest) to bring to the fore such irregularities, whereever being committed. 2) Secondly, PIO has already parted with some information and regarding the remaining he has submitted before the Departmental Appellate Authority that: The respondent has provided information to the information seeker on the point of House Tax assessment but the information has not been provided regarding the
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Property Tax. The respondent points out that presently property tax procedure is in process and record is yet to be compiled computerized and it is not feasible for him to ascertain whether the concerned parties file their property return or not. The information on the issue which is in question cannot be provided as whole of the staff working in the House Tax Department is busy in the field/camp for collecting property tax. Hence he is not in a position to provide any response on this issue. The Appellate Authority, thus, ordered: Keeping in view the submissions made by the respondent, I am convinced with the logic and arguments adduced by the respondent; hence directions are made to the respondent to provide a response on the issue by narrating the whole system within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order. 3) At no stage, Public Information Officer has agitated that the sought information relating to the Third Party, either in response to the information seeker nor before the Appellate Authority, even once and has never initiated any process as envisaged in Section 11 of the Act ibid. This matter (of Third Party) was not even before the Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab in the instant appeal. It was beyond the authority of the Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab to venture into issue of Third Party at this stage, as this was not agitated before the Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab even by the respondent (Respondent in this case was conspicuous with by his absence before the commission in its first and lone hearing on 27 January 2014). The commission has apparently gone beyond his jurisdiction to adjudicate on a non-issue, i.e., on the issue that was not before it. The respondent had already supplied some information and was almost ready to supply the remaining information after the direction of the First Appellate Authority. The Honble Commission, as it seems, acted with some extraneous assumptions and in an arbitrary manner, influenced by the consideration other than the law, and made an unwarranted order to give misdirection to the whole matter, contrary to the provision of law.

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4)

Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab, failed to appreciate the stand of the Public Information Officer as taken before the First Appellate Authority, as well as the order passed by the First Appellate Authority in this case. Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab has not even once mentioned about this in his impugned order. He failed to record as to how he differs from the views of the First Appellate Authority and why the order of the First Appellate Authority was defective and what infirmities, illnesses, frailties, sicknesses, weaknesses, disabilities, susceptibilities, ailments and maladies it carried. Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab has not dwell into as to how the information sought is not the information held by a public authority and why it is Third Party information. Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab failed to record the causes which affirm his point of view. Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab failed to appreciate the Larger Public Interest in the matter, as the big fishes are getting away with the process of law in league with the corrupt officials and due to this bureaucratic apathy our system junks. Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab has not applied his mind and issued a mindless order in utter disregard to the provision of the law and the settle procedures of the law as laid down in the Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court judgement in CWP-4787 of 2011. Rather the impugned order of the Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab has been laden with all the infirmities, illnesses, frailties, sicknesses, weaknesses, disabilities, susceptibilities, ailments and maladies. This is indeed a bad order in the eyes of the Law. The procedure adopted at the hearing was not conforms to any standards of the legal process of adjudicating, the procedure was defective as the appellant and respondents have been condemned unheard, just to impose his own overriding and unlawful draconian1 views. The bureaucratic chauvinism is still visible in the impugned order.

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By passing such hasty, irresponsible, reckless, wild, thoughtless, uncontrolled, inattentive, careless and rash, order, the Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab has neither done any justice to the cause of the transparency law, nor rendered any service to the humanity, rather has he given long latitude to the persons at the helm.
1 The code of the late 7th-century b.c. Athenian statesman noted for the severity of his code of laws.

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Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab has, thus, abused the oath he has taken on assuming the responsibility as State Chief Information Commission Punjab which you swore in the name of God solemnly affirming that: I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability, knowledge and judgment perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or illwill and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws."

RTIFED desires that the matter may be heard again in the larger bench (sans Hon'ble State Chief Information Commission Punjab) and a fresh and reasoned mandate be delivered.
In the meanwhile, RTIFED reiterates its demands that a Transparency Committee consisting of representative from Hon'ble State Information Commission Punjab, Government, Law fraternity, RTIFED and the public, may be formed suo-motu, to review the working of the commission as per mandate of law and to sort out the difficulties faced by the commission and the information seeking members of the public. This communication is sent through electronic media and as such does not require any signature. The receipt of this communication may please be acknowledged. Thanking you & Warm Regards, Very cordially yours,

Surendera M. Bhanot
President RTIFED2 rtifed@gmail.com
enclosure: as stated please. A copy is also sent to all RTI NGOs for making similar plea to concerned authorities in their state/area of operation.

RTIFED (formerly known as RTI Activists Federation and conceived and founded by the legendary Advocate H.C. Arora) is a body looking after the rights of the RTI Applicants and keeping an eye over the happenings of the RTI related matters in various states.
This communication is sent through electronic media and as such does not require any signature.
Write at: 3056, Sector 37-D, Chandigarh 160036 | Mobile +919-888-810-811 | Website: www.rtifed.com

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