2018 (8) TMI 1070 – CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION – 2018 (15) G. S. T. L. 399 (CIC) – RTI – GSTN Network – Information regarding the name of the officers with designations who were responsible for making the voluntary disclosure u/s 4 of the RTI Act, 2005 from 01.09.2009, till the date of providing information – It was articulated by the Respondent that they had observed the provisions of Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005 and that necessary disclosures were made on their website – Held that:- The Commission observed that a voluntary disclosure of all information that ought to be displayed in the public domain should be the rule and members of public who having to seek information should be an exception. An open government, which is the cherished objective of the RTI Act, can be realised only if all public offices comply with proactive disclosure norms. Section 4(2) of the RTI Act mandates every public authority to provide as much information suo-motu to the public at regular intervals t
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r The Respondent : Mr. M. Shadaab, AVP-Legal ORDER FACTS: The Appellant vide his RTI application sought information on 03 points and its sub points regarding the certified copies of the note sheets of the file mentioned in the RTI application for the period from 01.01.2013 till the date of providing the information, the name of the officers with designations who were responsible for making the voluntary disclosure u/s 4 of the RTI Act,2005 from 01.09.2009, till the date of providing information, the details of the action taken against them for violation of Section 4 of the Act, the list of the said files and issues related thereto. The CPIO vide its letter dated 19.05.2016 provided a point wise reply to the Appellant. Dissatisfied by the reply of the CPIO, the Appellant approached the FAA. The FAA vide its order dated 29.07.2016 rejected the contention of the Appellant raised in his First Appeal. HEARING: Facts emerging during the hearing: The following were present: Appellant: Mr. R.
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on of manual, rules and regulations, recruitment etc., an arrangement shall be put in place with the consultation of all the stake holders of the Company including tax payers. The attention of the Commission was drawn to the alarming and pathetic state of affairs of the GSTN which was meant to serve the public at large. Admitting the formative stages of the construction and formulation of GSTN, the Respondent stated that they were making best of their efforts to streamline their processes and procedures to put in place a robust, scientific and state of Art network for the benefit of the users. During the hearing, the Commission was appraised that the CPIO who had provided the initial information had since quit the service and that a total number of approximately 1200 employees were in the Company managing the entire network. It was articulated by the Respondent that they had observed the provisions of Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005 and that necessary disclosures were made on their webs
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y the right to information which is held by any public authority. We do not find any other provision under the Act under which a direction can be issued to the public authority to collate the information in the manner in which is sought by the applicant . A reference was drawn to the Hon ble Supreme Court observation in CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay & Ors.(supra), wherein it has been held: "35. At this juncture, it is necessary to clear some misconceptions about the RTI Act. The RTI Act provides access to all information that is available and existing. This is clear from a combined reading of Section 3 and the definitions of "information" and "right to information" under clauses (f) and (j) of Section 2 of the Act. If a public authority has any information in the form of data or analysed data, or abstracts, or statistics, an applicant may access such information, subject to the exemptions in Section 8 of the Act. But where the information sought is not a part
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to the decision of the Hon ble Delhi High Court ruling in WP (C) 12714/2009 Delhi Development Authority v. Central Information Commission and Another (delivered on: 21.05.2010), wherein it was held as under: 16.It also provides that the information should be easily accessible and to the extent possible should be in electronic format with the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be. The word disseminate has also been defined in the explanation to mean – making the information known or communicating the information to the public through notice boards, newspapers, public announcements, media broadcasts, the internet, etc. It is, therefore, clear from a plain reading of Section 4 of the RTI Act that the information, which a public authority is obliged to publish under the said section should be made available to the public and specifically through the internet. There is no denying that the petitioner is duty bound by virtue of the prov
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vident from various provisions thereof which require public authorities to: A. Publish inter alia: i) the procedure followed in the decision making process; ii) the norms for the discharge of its functions; iii) rules, regulations, instructions manuals and records used by its employees in discharging of its functions; iv) the manner and execution of subsidy programmes including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes; v) the particulars of recipients of concessions, permits or authorizations granted. [see Section 4(1) (b), (iii), (iv), (v); (xii) & (xiii)]. B. Suo moto provide to the public at regular intervals as much information as possible [see Section 4(2)]. As observed by the Hon ble Supreme Court of India in the decision of R.B.I. and Ors. V. Jayantilal N. Mistry and Ors, Transferred Case (Civil) No. 91 of 2015 (Arising out of Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 707 of 2012 decided on 16.12.2015 The ideal of Government by the people makes it necess
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the Constitution. It is very clearly postulated that democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold the Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed. The revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information. Therefore, the RTI Act seeks to harmonize these conflicting interests while preserving the paramount nature of democratic ideals." Moreover, the DoP&T vide its O.M no. 1/6/2011-IR dated 15.04.2013 had issued a memorandum regarding the guidelines for implementation of suo moto disclosure of Section 4 of the RTI Act,2005 by the Public Authorities. Furthermore, DoP&T vide its another O.M no. 1/6/2011-IR dated 22.09.2014 issued guidelines for the Public
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The CIC thus, besides the adjudicatory role also has a supervisory role in the implementation of the Act. Therefore, keeping in view the supervisory powers of the Commission u/s 25(4) of the RTI Act, 2005, the Commission advises the Respondent to suo motu disclose the information sought by the Complainant in compliance with Section-4 of the RTI Act, 2005 to ensure transparency, objectivity and accountability in the functioning of the Public Authority. DECISION Keeping in view the facts of the case and the submissions made by both the parties, it is evident that a sketchy information as available on its website had been furnished by the Respondent. However, it is appalling to learn that an important, significant and critical area concerning the implementation of GST Network still required streamlining and consolidation which needs to be attended to forthwith in the larger public interest. The Appeal stands disposed accordingly. – Case laws – Decisions – Judgements – Orders – Tax Mana
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