Live Law: New Delhi: Wednesday,
August 24, 2016.
The Central
Information Commission has observed that a Public Authority has no obligation
upon to collect/collate information which is not required by its law, rules or
regulations to be maintained by it.
In the
instant case, an RTI application was filed before the Central Public
Information Officer (CPIO), Rajya Sabha Secretariat seeking
information/historical documents on two points pertaining to the telecasting of
a programme on ‘Constitution’ on 02.03.2014 on Rajya Sabha TV Channel.
According to RSTV, they had outsourced the production of a programme named
‘Savindhan Making of the Constitution’ and hence, the information has not been
compiled by RSTV.
Dismissing
the Second Appeal, Information commissioner Sri. Sudhir Bhargava observed: “The
information which is not required to be maintained by law, rules or regulations
of the public authority, the RTI Act in such cases casts no obligation upon the
public authority to collect/collate such non-available information and then
furnish it to the appellant, as held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in
CBSE v. Aditya Banopadhyay”
In the case
referred above, the Apex Court had held: “where the information sought is not a
part of the record of a public authority, and where such information is not
required to be maintained under any law or the rules or regulations of the
public authority, the Act does not cast an obligation upon the public
authority, to collect or collate such non- available information and then
furnish it to an applicant.”