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CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION(Room No.315, BWing, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi 110 066)
(1) File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901841SA
(2) File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901848SA
(3) File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901832SA
(4) File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901900SA
(5) File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901902SA
(6) File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901905SA
(7) File No.CIC/SS/C/2013/900354SA
(Mr. Maniram Sharma Vs. Departments of Legal Affairs & Justice,GOI)
Appellant : Mr. Maniram SharmaRespondents : Departments of Legal Affairs & Justice,
Government of India
Date of hearing : 10062014
Date of decision : 20062014
Information Commissioner : Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu(Madabhushi Sridhar)
Referred Sections : Sections 3, 19(3) of the RTI ActResult : Appeal allowed / disposed of
1
The appellant was heard through audio conference on the phone numbers
09001025852, 09460605417. The Public Authority is represented by Mr. K. Ginkhan Thang,
CPIO, Department of Legal Affairs, and Mr. Prem Prakash Gupta, Under Secretary/CPIO,
Mr. S. Vijay Gopal, Under Secretary (Desk)/CPIO, Mr. G. Rajendran, Section Officer,
Department of Justice, Government of India, New Delhi.
2. The appellant has filed seven appeals and a complaint against Department of Legal
Affairs and Department of Justice, Government of India, which were heard together.
I. File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901841SA
Facts
3. The appellant filed RTI application on 19122012 seeking to know Department’s noting,
decision about First to 244th Report of Law Commission and noting on his letter to the
Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs regarding transparency and cleanliness in
Government. He also sought details about letter sent to Ms. Asha Sota of Law Commission of
India along with the department’s opinion. The CPIO replied on 1112013 stated that each of
Report of Law Commission was sent to the concerned Ministries for discussion and action.
As his first appeal was not responded, appellant filed second appeal before this Commission.
4. According to respondent the First Appellate Authority, by his order dt. 492013 directed
the transfer of RTI application with respect to points 9, 10 and 11, to the Law Commission of
India.
Decision:
2
5. The representative of Department of Legal Affairs submitted that their office has sent
a D.O. letter dt. 662014 to various Ministries and Departments to furnish the information
from out of their record as sought by the appellant. He also submitted that they were
searching for some LC Reports which were halfcentury old. They assured to give appellant
list of Reports and the departments to which they were forwarded within 15 days from the
date of receipt of the letter. They will be also transferring the RTI application to the concerned
Departments along with the DO letter asking them to furnish the opinion of concerning
Department, which would be delivered to appellant. They have shown a letter dt. 2622013
addressed to the Law Commission forwarding the application of the appellant for appropriate
action, a copy of which would be sent to the appellant.
6. Various Law Commissions under richly experienced Judges of Supreme Court as
chairpersons, with painstaking research have come out with significant recommendations on
highly relevant topics pertinent to the people’s rights hoping immediate action of the
Government to reform the concerned law. But it is unfortunate that the Governments of the
day did not show enough regard and response to the Reports and respect to their authors.
They either deferred their decision or confined Reports to coldstorage.
7. The Government has enough power and authority even to reject the recommendations of
the Law Commission with valid reasons after serious consideration. Because of this the
reports of Law Commission became subject matters of seminars and symposia among
academia only. In the process, the enormous efforts and hardwork of researchers were not
appropriately utilized for reforming the law. As the decades rolled out, certain
recommendations might have become obsolete or irrelevant.
3
8. At least the Government should have expressed its opinion and informed back the Law
Commission Chairman. This means the people in general and the Law Commission
Chairmen (and Members) in particular were denied their right to know the Government’s
opinions, discussions or actions on those Reports.
9. The appellant has rightly brought out the issue which was felt by many law persons and
experts through his applications under RTI. Like the reports of Law Commission, the RTI
applications of Mr. Maniram Sharma were also met with delayed or no response.
10. The Commission understands the difficulty of respondent authorities due to the volume
of the ‘response’ to be compiled and given on 240 Law Commission Reports, but, somewhere
the action should be initiated to tell the people of this country as to what the Government
plans to do about these well considered recommendations, without which the enormous
public money spend on Law Commissions to do such study and Reports would be wastage.
The Government should account for the money spent on these Reports by seriously
considering them following up with legal reforms. It is not just the right of applicant alone in
this case but the right of millions of people who are entitled to better laws and their better
implementation.
11. As sought by the appellant, the Commission directs the respondent authority to
upload the tracking of the movement of Government’s response on the Law
Commission reports by the side of each Report along with Department’s action taken
report thereon, on the websites of the Law Commission and concerned
Ministry/department of Union Government within 45 days from the date of receipt of
this order.
4
12. The Commission also directs the respondent/CPIO of the Department of Legal
Affairs, to show cause why such actions promised during hearing were not taken
earlier, which caused serious delay in furnishing complete and relevant information
to the appellant and delay in implementation of orders of CIC. His explanation should
reach the Commission, within 3 weeks from the date of receipt of this order.
II. File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901832SA
III. File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901902SA
13. The appellant through his RTI applications dt. 2412013 and 20122012, sought from
the Department of Justice on almost same points raised in other applications, like action
taken on Reports of Law Commission, opinions, letters presented and received, etc.
Appellant referred to the Central Secretariat Manual Procedure, para 90, which states that the
important decisions of the Department have to be uploaded in the website. The appellant
wanted to know implementation of such rule and the status of disclosure. As there is no reply
from the CPIO, the appellant filed first appeal on 2322013 and because there was no order
from FAA within the prescribed time, filed 2nd appeal before this Commission.
14. Surprisingly the respondent public authority does not have any piece of paper regarding
this RTI application. They have submitted that the application could not be traced. They do
not know whether the FAA has received the first appeal or not and also whether any decision
is given by the FAA on the same. They have obtained the copy from the CIC and gave some
information on 2022013. The respondents submitted that CPIO is pursuing with the
concerned Departments to secure responses.
Decision:
5
15. The respondents submitted that JusticeII Section of the Department of Justice has
furnished the information to the appellant on 1952014 regarding the action for the creation of
special courts with reference to one report No 213 of the Law Commission. This also refers
to the information on 13th Finance Commission grants available on the website of the
Department of Justice. The Department of Justice has also furnished comments on some
more Reports like action taken by their Department, with a statement indicating the number of
Law Commission’s report and the action taken thereon. The respondent officers have
submitted that 2nd and 3rd reports are yet to be traced and report Nos. 189 and 236 could not
be provided as the relevant records and the files are not traceable. However they assured to
take serious search operations to trace those files.
16. After hearing, the Commission directs the respondent authority to provide a
copy of the comments on the Law Commission’s reports Nos. 195, 214, 229 and 234
within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order. The Commission also directs
the Department of Justice to submit the progress of reports with details of efforts
within one month from the receipt of this order.
IV. File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901848SA
17. Mr. Maniram Sharma sought on 4.2.2013 action taken report on his letter dated 26.5.2012
with regard to section 4(4) of the RTI Act. The Hon’ble CIC’s order dated 23.10.2012 directed
information sought by appellant on 26.5.2012 be given within two weeks. In that application
he made some suggestions with regard to use of Official Language in Government offices,
issuing of letters/directions/orders/notifications in Hindi language and uploading of the Law
Commission Reports Bilingually. He also sought establishment of elibrary. With no response,
6
he filed first appeal. In the absence of any reply from First Appellate Authority, he approached
this Commission in second appeal.
18. The respondent gave a routine reply that RTI application was forwarded to the
Department of Official Language and Department of Culture and Ministry of Home Affairs as
their department was not concerned with that subject matter.
Decision:
19. The representative of the Department of Legal Affairs submitted they would be writing
soon to the Law Commission of India to upload the Hindi language version of the reports as
the Hindi versions are already available (when reports are laid on the Table of the Parliament,
translations were also placed). The Commission notes that it’s unfortunate lethargy of the
public authorities who did not upload the Hindi versions which were already available with
them long back.
20. The Commission directs the department of Legal Affairs to complete the task of
uploading the Hindi version of Law Commission Reports within three months from
the date of receipt of this order.
21. Regarding eLibrary, the respondent submitted that tenders were issued and
subsequently withdrawn due to some administrative problems. The Commission directs
Public Authority to inform about steps initiated to invite tenders for National eLaw
Library, within 2 months from the date of receipt of this order. The appeal in this case,
is disposed of accordingly.
7
V. File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901900SA
VI. File No.CIC/SS/A/2013/901905SA
22. The appellant has filed the RTI applications on 23122012 against the same
Department, i.e., Department of Justice on the similar points as observed from the first eight
points of the RTI application in the first file, namely, points nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are
respectively similar to points Nos. 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 of the RTI application in the
second file. The appellant is referring to his letter regarding the usage of Hindi in the
Supreme Court/High Courts – what action was taken, the opinions, letters sent and received
by the respondent/Department, in this regard and the progress thereon, etc. There are no
replies from the CPIO, the appellant filed first appeal in both the cases, which were not
responded leading to these two 2nd appeals.
Decision:
23. The appellant says that he received only partial information on 7.5.2013, that too, after
123 days. The respondent authority has shown letter dt. 752013, wherein they have
addressed the appellant, giving information on usage of Hindi in the Supreme Court and other
High Courts. They said that the appellant’s representation was forwarded to the Department
of Official Language and intimated the same to appellant. But the Commission finds neither
official transfer of the RTI application to the concerned Department nor any intimation to the
appellant, which they are bound to do under RTI Act. In view of this the Commission
observes that the Department of Justice is under an obligation to collect the
information from the Department of Official Language and furnish the same to the
appellant. The Commission also directs the CPIO of public authority at relevant
point of time of RTI application to show cause why maximum penalty cannot be
8
imposed for inordinate delay in furnishing the information and for not following the
procedure prescribed by RTI Act, within 3 weeks from the date of receipt of this
order.
VII. File No.CIC/SS/C/2013/900354SA
24. Mr. Maniram Sharma filed RTI application on 2032013 regarding 24 reports of the Law
Commission and sought the opinion of the respondent/Department. It also refers to the
Central Secretariat Office Procedure, according to which the Department is expected to
upload the important decisions in their website but it was not done. There is no reply of the
CPIO on the file and first appeal also not responded leading to this complaint.
Decision:
25. The representatives of the Justice Department submitted that none of their CPIOs are
concerned with the reports of the Law Commissions referred to in the RTI application
question No.1. Thus it was transferred to the Department of Legal Affairs. The representative
of the Dept of Legal Affairs submitted a list indicating which report is forwarded to which
Department, etc. He said that such list would be furnished to the appellant within a week.
Considering this as also a second appeal, the Commission directs the public authority to send
the file notes, opinions and relevant correspondence relating to 230th Law Commission
Report to the appellant within 15 days. The Commission also directs the respondent authority
to showcause why penalty cannot be imposed for not responding to RTI application within
prescribed period and causing inordinate delay.
26. All the appeals along with the complaint are disposed of accordingly.
9
(M. Sridhar Acharyulu)Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy
(Ashwani K. Sharma)Designated Officer
Address of the parties:
1. The CPIO under RTI, Govt. of INDIA Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law &
Justice, Shastri Bhavan
New Delhi-110001
2. The CPIO under RTI, Govt. of India
Department of Justice, Ministry of Law &
Justice, Jaisalmer House, 26, Mansingh Road
10
New Delhi-110011.
3. Shri Maniram Sharma,
Behind Roadway Depot,
Sardarshahr, District Churu,
RAJASTHAN
Copy forwarded to the First Appellate Authority under RTI, Department of Legal Affairs, to seek explanation from the concerned CPIO as per para 12 of the order:
4. The Deputy Secretary & the First Appellate
Authority under RTI,
Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law & Justice
Shastri Bhavan, NEW DELHI-110001.
Copy forwarded to the First Appellate Authority under RTI, Department of Justice to seek explanation from the concerned CPIO as per para 25 of the order:
5. The Joint Secretary & the First Appellate Authority under RTI
Department of Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice
Jaisalmer House, 26-Mansingh Road,
New Delhi-110011.
11