Deccan
Herald: Bengaluru: Thursday, 17 December 2015.
In a landmark
judgment, the Karnataka High Court has recently held that the Information
Commission should dispose of cases within 45 days of filing the second appeal.
The order,
passed on October 29, 2015, by its nature will have implication nationwide as
it fills a major vacuum in the RTI Act, 2005, as it sets a deadline of 45 days
for the Information Commissions to dispose of the case.
It offers
great relief to lakhs of RTI applicants across the country awaiting disposal of
cases for years together. It will pave the way for fast disposal of cases and
end the huge backlog at the Information Commissions. There are instances where
the older cases are still pending, whereas new cases got early hearing, leading
to injustice to RTI applicants.
The case
pertains to RTI application filed by Jayaprakash Reddy, a resident of
Chintamani in Chikkaballapur with the Union of India regarding the expenditure
by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha elections.
The applicant
had filed the first appeal before the first appellate authority and then the
second appeal before the Central Information Commission. Even after a year, the
matter did not come up for hearing, compelling the applicant to seek directions
from the Karnataka High Court, where Reddy made the Union of India and the
Central Information Commission parties.
Delivering
the judgment, Justice Anand Byrareddy observed that sub-section-6 of Section-19
of the RTI Act does provide for a time within which a first appeal is to be
decided, not exceeding 45 days from the date of filing.
The first
respondent has indefinitely postponed the hearing and is not deciding the
second appeal, compelling the applicant to approach the High Court.
Justice
Byrareddy noted that no time limit was prescribed to decide a second appeal.
Therefore, it would have to be interpreted that when no time is prescribed, it
would follow that it ought to be decided within a reasonable time.
Since there
is a time limit prescribed for deciding a first appeal, it would be safe to
conclude that a similar period would apply insofar as deciding the second
appeal, for otherwise, it would lead to a situation where the object of the Act
is not achieved if the authority should indefinitely postpone hearing and
decision of a second appeal, the judge said.
He said,
“Consequently, it would be deemed that the second appeal would also have to be
decided within a period of 45 days if not earlier from the date of filing.”
Four
weeks’ time
The judge
noted that since the second appeal filed by the petitioner is pending before
the first respondent since October 2014, and more than one year has lapsed, it
would be in the fitness of things to direct the first respondent to expedite
the consideration of the appeal and pass appropriate orders within a period of
four weeks, if not earlier, from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
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