Court No. - 36
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 35660 of 2018 Petitioner :- Ajay Kumar Rai Respondent :- State Information Commissioner And Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Ankit Saran Counsel for Respondent :- Kunal Ravi Singh
Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
The present writ petition is directed against the order dated 20.7.2018 passed by the State Information Commission, U.P., whereby a penalty had been imposed upon the petitioner for not providing correct information to the applicant under the R.T.I. Act while imposing the penalty, the liberty is granted to the applicant to approach the Public Information Officer who shall provide correct information to the applicant. The damages to the tune of Rs. 3,000/- had been granted to the applicant in addition to the penalty of Rs. 25,000/- imposed upon the petitioner.
It is contended by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the information as sought by the applicant vide application dated 29.11.2014 was provided within time vide reply dated 9th January, 2015. The fact that the reply to the RTI application was given by the petitioner has been completely ignored by the State Information Commission. The petitioner had also required the applicant to come in the office to inspect the records.
Considering these submissions of learned counsel for the petitioner, having noticed the information at item nos. 3 and 4 of the application dated 29.11.2014 and the reply given by the petitioner dated 9th January, 2015, it is more than evident that the petitioner did not provide the correct and complete information in reply to the said queries. The reply given by the petitioner is vague and incomplete information. The State Information Commission, therefore, cannot be said to have erred in drawing conclusion that the petitioner is guilty of suppression of correct information.
The fact that the petitioner was posted as Public Information Officer at the relevant time is not disputed.
For the aforesaid, no infirmity is found in the order impugned. The present writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed.
Order Date :- 29.10.2018 Brijesh