Live
Law: New Delhi: Wednesday, July 19, 2017.
An RTI application cannot be transferred from one of×ce
to the other and the Public information Officer is supposed to provide all
information sought, subject to legal exceptions, the Delhi High Court has held.
Justice Vibhu
Bhakru said so, while setting aside two letters issued by the Public
Information Officer of Directorate of Education/ Deputy Director of Education
by which the RTI application of
petitioner
and advocate Shikha Bagga was transferred first from the office of Director of Education
to Deputy Directors’ office and from there to over 1,400 schools.
In its
defence, the PIO, Directorate of Education, told the court that the information
sought by Bagga was confidential in nature and, thus, the Director may not be
in a position to supply the same.
“The question
involved in the present case does not entail examination of whether the information
sought for is confidential or is to be withheld from the petitioner. The petitioner’s
grievance is regarding transfer of her application to other PIOs and thereafter
to various schools,” the court noted.
“Clearly,
transferring the petitioner’s application to various schools is unsustainable. The
PIO is required to provide all such information as sought for, subject to the
exceptions as provided under the Act,” Justice Bakhru said.
While asking
the PIO of the Director of Education office to consider Bagga’s application as
per law, the court left it for the PIO to decide if the information so sought
is confidential. In this case, Bagga’s lawyer Khagesh B Jha had contended that
the transfer of his application to the Deputy Director and then to the schools
would entail that the petitioner would have to take his remedies against all
the schools, which would be approximately 1,400 in number.
He also
submitted that law obliges Directorate of Education to possess the information which
the petitioner had sought and the transfer of the application is only to delay/
deny furnishing of information.
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