Moneylife: Pune: Tuesday,
March 26, 2013.
The PIO of
Food and Supplies Department refused to provide information about rations cards
without claiming any exemption under the RTI Act. This is the 63rd in a series
of important judgements given by former Central Information Commissioner
Shailesh Gandhi that can be used or quoted in an RTI application
The Central
Information Commission (CIC), while allowing an appeal, directed the Public
Information Officer (PIO) of Food and Supplies Department to publish
information about ration cards in his zone on the website of Government of
National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) under the provisions of Section 4
of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
While giving
this important judgement on 10 September 2009, Shailesh Gandhi, the then
Central Information Commissioner said, “The PIO's contention that this
information can be used for blackmail indicates that irregularities are brought
out and therefore if the information is publicly available irregularities would
also be curbed.”
Delhi
resident Irshad, on 6 March 2009, sought information about bogus ration cards
from the Food and Supplies Department of the GNCTD. Here is the information he
sought...
Regarding
Bogus Card of Circle - 49 related to different shops of 2496/82, 3080/87,
3563/93, 6837 6747, 6734, 6728 and 6719:
i) Copy of APL stamping list.
ii) Copy of Master Card Register.
The PIO in
his reply stated that Irshad enclosed several letters that were written by
different shop owners, who have objected to giving information since he was not
a card holder of the same area. The information sought in the application can
be misused by Irshad, the PIO contended.
Not satisfied
with the reply, Irshad filed his first appeal. The First Appellate Authority
(FAA), in his order stated that according to the provisions of Control Order
and in view of various measures taken by the department to increase the
transparency in the PDS, the documents could be inspected in the public audit.
Irshad then
approached the CIC with his second appeal.
During the
hearing, Mr Gandhi, the then CIC, observed that the PIO refused to provide
information even after 37 days without citing any exemptions under Section 8 of
the RTI Act. “The plea of the PIO that third parties were refusing permission
cannot be a ground for denial unless the exemptions are claimed and justified
under Section 8 (1),” the Commission said.
“Even the FAA
has not understood the law and had directed the appellant to participate in a
public audit! There appears to be no ground for denial of the information,” Mr
Gandhi noted.
The PIO
contended that this information could be used to blackmail rations shop owners.
The Commission, however, rejected the contention.
Mr Gandhi
said, “The PIO's contention that this information can be used for blackmail
indicates that irregularities are brought out and therefore if the information
is publicly available irregularities would also be curbed.”
He then
directed the PIO to ensure that this information is put up for his zone on the
website under the provisions of Section 4 so that everybody has access to this
information before 15 October 2009.
Since, the
information was not provided within the stipulated time specified under
sub-section (1) of Section 7, the Commission issued a show-cause notice to the
PIO.
.JPG)
.JPG)
