NDTV: Mumbai:
Tuesday, September 17, 2019.
Justice
Jayant Nath issued notice to the CPIO of the ministry's publications division
on the petition by convict Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique challenging the order
of Central Information Commission (CIC) declining to provide the information
sought by him under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The
Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting on a plea by a convict in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings case
seeking copies of certain publications free of cost under the Act.
Justice
Jayant Nath issued notice to the CPIO of the ministry's publications division
on the petition by convict Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique challenging the order
of Central Information Commission (CIC) declining to provide the information
sought by him under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The
court said that the reply should be filed by authorities within two weeks and
listed the matter for further hearing on November 15.
Siddique,
presently lodged in Nagpur Central Jail, was given capital punishment for the
July 11, 2006 serial blasts when seven RDX bombs ripped through many Western
line local trains in Mumbai leading to the death of 189 persons and injuring
829.
In
his plea, the convict said he has completed several courses provided by IGNOU
free of cost in jail and wishes to know more about various topics, books and
materials.
Since
various topics are not available in prison library, he sought hard copies of those
publications/ books under the provisions of the Act.
Advocate
Arpit Bhargava, appearing for Siddique, said the prisoner had mentioned in his
application that he was a person below poverty line since he was in custody,
and being a convict, he was entitled to all such publications/ books "free
of cost".
However,
the request was declined by the publication division of the Ministry of I&B
and it was stated that since books/ publications referred in application are
priced ones, they cannot be supplied free of cost to general public under any
circumstances and he was advised to contact the sales emporium in Mumbai for
buying them or to purchase online.
His
first and second appeal before the First Appellate Authority (FAA) and the CIC,
respectively, were dismissed after which he approached the high court.
"It
is the fundamental right of the petitioner (Siddique) to have access to and
acquire education and knowledge and a democratic government is under an
obligation to provide means to spread education and knowledge to its citizens
irrespective of the fact that a person is in jail or not," the convict
said in his plea before the high court.
"The
CIC failed to appreciate that by denying to provide publications ''free of
cost'' to petitioner, fundamental right to education of petitioner is being
violated by respondent.
"CIC
and respondent failed to appreciate the distinction between general public and
persons below poverty line and the real purpose as to why persons below poverty
line were exempted from paying fees underI Act," it said.
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