IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.

3265 of 2013

ARJUN SHEORAN
..Petitioner Versus HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR, CHANDIGARH AND OTHERS ..Respondents INDEX
Sr. No. Particulars Dated Page(s) Court Fees

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

List of Dates and Events

Memo Of Parties
Civil Writ Petition
Affidavit
Annexure P-1
Annexure P-2

13.02.2013
13.02.2013
13.02.2013
13.02.2013

A
1
2-38
39-40
41-52
53-65

-50/----7.80/8.45/-

(HC Rules)
(Haryana Rules)

14.08.2007
14.08.2007

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Annexure P-3
Annexure P-4
Annexure P-5
Annexure P-6
Annexure P-7

(Punjab Rules)

14.08.2007

66-78
79-91
92
93-94
95-97
98-125

7.15/8.45/0.65/1.30/1.95/18.20/-

(Chandigarh Rules) 14.08.2007

(Central Rules)
(Letter)
(Appeal Rules)

25.09.2005
26.04.2011
28.10.2005

Annexure P-8 (Order of Commission) 21.11.08

Rs.103.95/Notes: 1. The questions of law canvassed in the present petition are contained in para No. 44 at Page 36 thereof. 2. Relevant Statute/Rules: The Right to Information Act, 2007, High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007
3. Any other case: Nil 4. As per the knowledge of the petitioner, no caveat petition has been filed in the matter. 5. The present petition is in the nature of a P.I.L. Chandigarh Dated: 13 February, 2013
th

(ARJUN SHEORAN, ADVOCATE)

Petitioner in Person

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

C.W.P. No. 3265 of 2013

ARJUN SHEORAN
..Petitioner Versus HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR, CHANDIGARH AND OTHERS ..Respondents Total amount of Court Fees Affixed: Rs. 103.95/-

Chandigarh Dated: 13th February, 2013 ARJUN SHEORAN, ADVOCATE Petitioner in Person

A LIST OF DATES AND EVENTS

DATE 21.06.2005 14.08.2007

EVENT Right to Information Act, 2005 was published in the Gazette of India High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 were brought into being by publication in the Gazette.

13.02.2013

Filing of the present petition.

Chandigarh

Dated: 13th February, 2013

ARJUN SHEORAN, Advocate (Petitioner in Person)

1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

Civil Writ Petition No. 3265 of 2013

PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION

MEMO OF PARTIES
ARJUN SHEORAN, ADVOCATE, PUNJAB
AND

HARYANA HIGH COURT, SON OF

SANJEEV BHARTI, RESIDENT OF HOUSE NO. 1, SECTOR-16/A, CHANDIGARH, CHANDIGARH UNION TERRITORY. PETITIONER Versus 1. HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR, CHANDIGARH 2. THE CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION THROUGH ITS

SECRETARY, 2ND FLOOR, AUGUST KRANTI BHAVAN, BHIKAJI CAMA PLACE, NEW DELHI-110066 Respondents Chandigarh 13th February, 2013 ARJUN SHEORAN, Advocate (Petitioner in Person)

2
A WRIT PETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA FOR QUASHING

RULES 3, 4, 6, 7 INTER ALIA OF THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA (RIGHT TO INFORMATION) RULES, 2007, HARYANA SUBORDINATE COURTS (RIGHT TO

INFORMATION) RULES, 2007, PUNJAB COURTS (RIGHT TO INFORMATION)

SUBORDINATE RULES, 2007,

CHANDIGARH UNION TERRITORY SUBORDINATE COURTS (RIGHT TO INFORMATION) RULES, 2007, FRAMED UNDER THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005 WHICH ARE NOT IN CONSONANCE WITH THE LETTER AND SPIRIT OF THE SAID ACT, AND VIOLATE ARTICLE 19(1)(A) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH: 1. That the Petitioner is a practicing advocate registered with the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana. The petitioner herein has been working and using the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for several years, since he was a student at National Law School of India University, Bangalore, for improving transparency and accountability and has been a volunteer associated with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information, both of which have been at the forefront of bringing about the Act and a movement for transparency and accountability in India.

3
2. That the Petitioner came across the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, during his course of work which required him to file RTI Applications under the Act with the Respondent No. 1 and Subordinate Courts. These Rules are formulated by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in exercise of the powers conferred by sub- section (1) of Section 28 read with Section 2 (e)(iii) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) administrative function. as its

A copy of the Rules are hereto annexed and marked as ANNEXURE P-1.

3. That Section 28 of the Act delegates the specific function of rule making to the Competent Authority as defined under Section 2 (e) (iii) of the Act. The rule making for a Honble High Court, is done by the Competent Authority. Drawing from Section 28 of the Act, the Competent Authority has the power, inter alia, to prescribe such reasonable timing for filing application, procedure for the same, the fees payable, the cost attributable to the medium or print cost of the material to be disseminated which is in spirit and as per the objective of its parent Act. Section 28 of the Act reads as under: 28 . Power to Make Rules by Competent Authority (1) The competent authority may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

4
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: (i) the cost of the medium or print cost price of the 4;

materials to be disseminated under sub-section (4) of section (ii) (iii) and (iv) prescribed. the fee payable under sub-section (1) of section 6;

the fee payable under sub-section (1) of section 7;

any other matter which is required to be, =or may be,

The following Rules have thus been made, in exercise of such power as the Competent Authority for the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and for the subordinate courts of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh: High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 (Annexed as ANNEXURE P/2) Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 (Annexed as ANNEXURE P/3) Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 (Annexed as ANNEXURE P/4)

The rules for the subordinate judiciary of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have been identically framed and are ultra vires of the parent Act as well for the

5
same reasons. However for the sake of brevity, the High Court Rules, 2007 whose provisions are being analyzed to show how they are ultra vires.

4. That Rules 3, 4, 6 and 7 of The Rules, along with similarly framed rules for the subordinate judiciary are being challenged as being ultra vires the parent Act and for being unconstitutional.

5. IN RE: RULE 6 That Rule 6 (i) is in clear violation of the mandate of Section 6 (3) of the Act. Keeping in mind the objective of the Act to reduce time taken for procuring the information and to prevent unnecessary harassment to applicants, Section 6 (3) of the Act lays down (3) Where an application is made to a public authority requesting for an information, (i) which is held by another public authority; or (ii) the subject matter of which is more closely connected with the functions of another public authority, the public authority, to which such application is made, shall transfer the application or such part of it as may be appropriate to that other public authority and inform the applicant immediately about such transfer Thus, Section 6 (3) the Act casts a duty on the public authority to transfer such application to the appropriate authority and inform the applicant about such transfer. However, Rule 6 (i) is in clear contradiction of the above mentioned Section 6 of the Act. This is because Rule 6 (i) not only mandates that if the requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the

6
authorized person, the application must be returned to the applicant, but also places the burden on the applicant to file a fresh application. The said rule further does not reimburse the fees paid thereby adding unnecessary financial burden on the applicant. Rule 6 (i) reads as under: 6. Disposal of application by the authorized person: (i) If the requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorized person, he shall order return of the application to the applicant in Form C as expeditiously as possible in any case within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, advising the applicant, wherever possible, about the authority concerned to whom the application should be made. The application fee deposited in such cases shall not be refunded. Thus, as Rule 6(i) clearly disregards the mandate of the Section 6(3) of the Act, it is ultra vires the Act and thus liable to struck down.

6. IN RE: RULE 3 That the Rule 3 violates Section 6 of the Act in the sense that whilst Rule 3 prescribes a specific format, Form A to request any information under the Act, Section 6 liberally allows the information requested to through electronic means or even orally. Such restrictions of form of application proves to an inconvenience to people at large including the number of population who might not be in a position to prescribe to such format due to lack of literacy. 7. That Rule 3 of the Rules provides the timing for filing the request for application under Section 6 of the Act. The said rule allocates mere two hours

7
a day from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m whilst usually the timing for filing the request for application under the Act across various public authorities is set out to be throughout the working hours of such public authority. Such a narrow window set out by Rule 3 is severely restrictive, inconvenient and against the spirit of the Act. Under Section 5 of the Act, a duty is cast upon the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance. In the present limited number of hours, it can be reasonably assumed that such Officer being pressed for time will not be able to provide quality services and assistance to the public seeking such information under the Act, as required, and thereby being unable to discharge his statutory duty under Section 5 (3) of the Act. Rule 3 of the Rules reads as under 3. Application for seeking information: Any person seeking information under the Act shall make an application in Form A to the authorized person, in between 11.00 A.M. to 1.00 P.M., on a Court working day and shall deposit application fee as per Rule 7 by paying fee by way of adhesive court fee stamps or demand drafts/ bankers cheque/ Indian postal orders in favour of Registrar , Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time Thus, as it is the duty of the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to deal with requests from persons seeking information and render reasonable assistance to the persons seeking

8
such information as per Section 5 (3) of the Act. Therefore, any arbitrary limit on the number of hours for receiving such applications goes against the duties prescribed to the Public Information Officers. The rule which prescribes merely 2 hours out of about 7-8 total working hours for which the offices of the Respondent No. 1 is otherwise functioning is unreasonable, arbitrary and against the letter and spirit of the Act. This rule unnecessarily restricts and limits the substantive rights of the citizens under the Act by providing arbitrary and unjustified procedures.

8. IN RE: RULE 7 That Rule 7 exemplifies how the present rules fail to carry out the purposes of the said Act, as also the extent to which they are in conflict with the parent Act as Rule 7 goes against the letter and spirit of the parent Act per se and therefore is ultra vires the parent Act. Rule 7 reads as under:

7. Charging of Fee: (i) The application fee: A minimum of Rupees fifty shall be

charged as application fee.

(i-A) The authorized person shall charge the fee for supply of information at the following rates:
Sr.No .

Description of information

Price/fees in rupees

9
(A)

Where the information is available in the form of a priced publication

On printed price.

(B)

For other than priced publication

Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application.

(C)

Where information is available in form to be in form

Rupees one hundred per floppy and Rupees two hundred per CD.

electronic and is

supplied electronics

e.g. Floppy, CD etc.

(D)

Information relating to tenders documents/bids/q uotation/Business contract

Rupees Five hundred per application.

10
(ii)The fee for inspection of documents or record shall be Rs. 10/- per fifteen minutes or a fraction thereof and Rs. 20 per 15 minutes in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act, for the inspection of record/document. (iii)The fees given above may be varied/enhanced by the competent authority from time to time. (iv) Every page of information to be supplied shall be duly authenticated and shall bear the seal of the officer concerned supplying the information. (v) During inspection the applicant shall not be allowed to take the photograph of the record/document. The applicant shall not cause any hindrance to the Office work and shall cooperate with the staff and complete the inspection as soon as possible. The Public Information Officer concerned shall have the right to fix the time and date of the inspection according to administrative convenience and his/her decision shall be final. (vi) A fee of Rupees One hundred per appeal on form F shall be paid by way of adhesive court fee stamps or demand drafts/ bankers cheque/ Indian postal orders in favour of Registrar , Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time.

9. That Rule 7 (i-A)(B) prescribes that for other than priced publication a fees of

11
Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application. This Rule is again vague, unclear, arbitrary and illegal because of three reasons: a. First, that Rule 7 (i-A)(B) provides for Rupees Ten/Twenty per page as the cost of information, which is five/ten times the fees prescribed by The Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005, (Annexed herewith as ANNEXURE P-5) i.e. Rs. Two per A4 size page, which are followed by Central Government Public Authorities, and even followed by the Honble Supreme Court. It states: (a) rupees two for each page (in A-4 or A-3 size paper) created or copied; (b) actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper; (c) actual cost or price for samples or models; and (d) for inspection of records, no fee for the first hour and a fee of Rs 5 for each 15 minutes (or fraction thereof) thereafter.

Thus, the fee prescribed under Rule 7 (i-A)(B) is unreasonable and against the mandate of the proviso of Section 7(5) of the Act which states that Provided that the fee prescribed under sub-section (1) of section 6 and sub-sections (1) and (5) of section 7 shall be reasonable and no such fee shall be charged from the persons who are of below poverty line as may be determined by the appropriate Government. It is pertinent to mention herein that as per Section 7 (3)(a) of the Act, the fees prescribed for the information represents the cost of providing the information. It is quite unusual that the cost of providing such information differs so vastly between similarly placed public

12
authorities, as all Central Governmental Public Authorities and even the Honble Supreme Court is able to provide information at Rupees Two per page. It is seems that there has been no application of mind by Honble Punjab and Haryana High Court in determining the same. That it is pertinent to mention that action has been taken by The Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pension, Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India who have issued a notification No. F.1/5/2011IR dated April 26, 2011, with a view to reduce the variance in fees prescribed by different appropriate Governments/Competent

Authorities. It was stated in the said letter:

N0.F. 1/5/2011 -IR Government of lndia Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pension Department of Personnel & Training ****** North Block, New Delhi Dated April 26,201 1 1. The Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs (except J&K) 2. The Registrars of all High Courts 3. The Registrar of the Supreme Court Subject:- Harmonization of fee payable under the Right to lnformation Act. 2005 Sir.

13
Sections 27 and 28 of the Right to lnformation Act, and the 2005

empower the appropriate

Governments

Competent

Authorities to make rules to prescribe, inter-alia, the fees payable under the Act. In exercise of the powers. the Central Government, State Governments, High Courts etc. have notified rules. It has been observed that the fee prescribed by different appropriate

Governments/Competent Authorities is at great variance. 2. The 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission has, in this regard recommended that the States should frame Rules regarding application fee in harmony with the Central Rules and ensure that the fee should not become a disincentive for using the right to information. 3. All the States/Competent Authorities are, therefore, requested to kindly review their Fee Rules and to prescribe fee in consonance with the fee prescribed by the Government of lndia. A copy of the Right to lnformation (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005

notified by the Government of lndia is enclosed for ready reference. 4. Kindly inform us of the action taken in this regard.

Sd/- Hereto annexed is a copy of the said notification as ANNEXURE P-6

That in view of the aforementioned notification all the States/ Competent Authorities have been urged to review the rules regarding amount of fees charged for information under the Act. That the

14
Honble Supreme Court of India has also kept its fees structure for information under the Act as per the amount of fees prescribed by the Government of India. b. Secondly, Rule 7(i-A)(B) provides for two rates for providing information i.e. Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application whereas there is no such power with the

Competent Authority under the Act to charge differential rates for different kinds of requests for the same kind of information, if there does exist any such difference. In fact, the information which is to be provided within 30 days and the information which is to be provided within 48 hours is no different from each other in terms of form or content and the only difference is that the latter concerns the life and liberty of an individual and thus needs to be provided within a shorter time limit. Thus, there are no reasons for making such differential rates because the form and content of the information in both the abovementioned cases will be the same, and it is only that the term expeditiously in Section 7(1) of the Act is limited to 48 hours as per the proviso to section 7(1) in matters concerning life and liberty of an individual and nothing else, and thus no enhanced fee can be charged for the expeditious provision of information, which in any case the Public Information Officer is bound to provide expeditiously. It is pertinent to note that the Rule 7 must not treat the fee for the information concerning life and liberty of a person as an urgent or tatkal fee as the time limit of 48 hours is only for cases concerning the

15
life and liberty of any individual and it is not an additional service provided by the Public Information Officer (hereinafter the PIO), as in any case the PIO is bound to provide the information expeditiously. In any case, the fee provided under Rule 7 does not follow the mandate of the Act as it is neither reasonable nor does it represent merely the cost of providing the information, as provided under the proviso to Section 7 (5) of the Act. c. Thirdly, Rule 7(i-A)(B) mandates that a minimum fee of Rupees Fifty per application shall be charged while supplying information. This mandatory fee is arbitrary as it is not commensurate to the number of pages of information provided to the applicant, as the applicant might have required only a page or so of information. Thus, the mandatory Rupees Fifty in several cases would be way more than cost of providing the information, which would make the said fee

unreasonable and thus against proviso of Section 7(5) of the Act.

Thus, the fee for providing information is amongst the highest in the country as not only the Rules provide that not only the rate per page of information is five/ten times the rate prescribed for otherwise similarly placed Central Government Public Authorities, and even the Honble Supreme Court of India, which follows the The Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005, but also, arbitrarily, differential rates of information are provided for information which is concerning the life and liberty of a person which is to be provided within 48 hours and information that is to be provided within thirty days. Furthermore, a minimum of Rupees Fifty are to be

16
compulsorily paid under Rule 7(i-A)(B) which is arbitrary. By asking for arbitrarily enhanced fees for information, the Rule exploits the vulnerable position of the applicants and imposes an illegal and arbitrary financial burden which may act as a deterrent to file an application.

10. That thus, Rule 7 of the Rules is against Section 7 (5) of the Act. The Section 7 (5) proviso states that the fee prescribed by such Rules shall be reasonable. Furthermore, Section 7(3) of the Act lays down that where additional payment of fees may be required for providing information, in such cases, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall send intimation to the applicant explaining details of fees chargeable for additional information. This clarifies that the fees prescribed should not only be reasonable under proviso to Section 7 (5) of the Act but should also signify/represent the reason/ details of the cost for providing the information. The Petitioner hence states that the prohibitive cost under Rule 7 for providing information is against the parent statute.

11. That Rule 7 (i-A)(D) prescribes for Information relating to tenders documents /bids /quotation /Business contract an exorbitant sum of Rupees five Hundred per application to be charged compulsorily. This rule is not only arbitrary and prone to misuse, but also puts illegal and unauthorized fetters to Indian citizens Right to Information under the Act. This unreasonable amount is financial encumbrance to the citizens at large. The nature of the information under Rule 7(i-A)(D) is no different from any other record/ document requested in an application under the Act and hence there is no

17
nexus between the amount charged and the reason for charging such a sum.

12. That one of the main aims of the Act is to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. This is enshrined in the Preamble of the Act which states: An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

13. That access to information relating to financial transactions, as illustrated under Rule 7(i-A)(D), entered into by a public authority are prime instruments of ensuring transparency and accountability and any arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal fetters on the same must be prohibited.

14. That it is pertinent to consider the purpose of the Act, as stated under the Preamble of the Act, and the same should be used to as a guideline while interpreting the Act: Whereas the Constitution of India has established democratic Republic; And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed

18

15. That, thus, one of the main reasons for enacting the Act was to ensure transparency and contain corruption. Therefore, if excessively high fees are imposed for accessing documents relating to details and background of the financial expenditure made by Respondent No. 1, a common person cannot challenge the illegality and arbitrariness of an expenditure which cannot be discerned without complete information relating to tenders documents/ bids/ quotation/ Business contract.

16. That with regards to Rule 7, the payment of fee of a sum of Rs. 500 is applied blindly notwithstanding that cost of copies of such number of pages of information might not add up to Rs. 500. The abovesaid Rule does not take into account the possibility that an applicant may only require such information and not copies thereof. Furthermore, a compulsory fee of rupees five hundred thwarts and discourages applications for information, regarding financial decisions and spending of Respondent No. 1. This goes against the statutory obligation under the parent Act of charging a reasonable fee, which essentially mandates that the cost is to recover only the cost of providing the information.

17. That a prohibitive fee of rupees five hundred as laid down in Rule 7 has no reasonable nexus with the material which would be provided in lieu of such application for information. This arbitrary fee and the said Rule are clearly prone to misuse. It is illegal and puts unauthorized fetters to the Indian citizens right to information under the Act.

19

18. That Rule 7 (i) stipulates an application fee of Rs. 50 per application, which keeping in mind the objective of the Act, ought to be in order to cover the cost of providing the information. The idea of charging the fee, clearly established, is to reimburse the authority providing the information for the expenses it incurs to make available such information. Hence a link must exist between fees charged and information provided. However, Rule 7 (i-A) places extra burden on the applicant by charging Rs. 10 per page and Rs. 20 per page in case the information is required under Section 7 of the Act. This discriminatory and arbitrary charging of fees without any application of mind on the part of authority is violative of the Preamble of the Act and against its spirit as well. 19. That similarly, Rule 7(ii) provides for an excessive and unreasonable amount as fees for inspection of the record, as Rs. 10 or 20, as the case may be, for every 15 minutes. On the other hand, the Central Rules, as per Rule 4 (d) provide that (d) for inspection of records, no fee for the first hour; and a fee of rupees five for each subsequent hour (or fraction thereof). Considering that a citizen is not even allowed to photograph or photocopy the record as per Rule 7 (v), there seems to be no reason why a fees 8 to 16 times higher has been provided for inspection of the record, but for creating unnecessary and illegal hurdles in accessing information. Thus, Rule 7(ii) ultravires the Act.

20. That Rule 7 goes against the mandate of the Act as it is neither reasonable nor does set out any connection between the information provided and the

20
cost for providing such information. That furthermore, Rule 7 of the Rules is against Section 7 (5) of the Act. The proviso to Section 7 (5) states that the fee prescribed by such Rules shall be reasonable. Furthermore, Section 7(3) of the Act lays down that where additional payment of fees may be required for providing information, in such cases, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall send intimation to the applicant explaining details of fees chargeable for additional information. This clarifies that the fees prescribed should not only be reasonable under proviso to Section 7 (5) of the Act but should also signify/represent the reason/ details of the cost for providing the information. Hence, the prohibitive cost under Rule 7 for providing information is against the parent statute.

21. That all the Central Government Public Authorities charge a reasonable fee of Rupees two per page (A4 or A3 in size paper) of information created or photocopied in consonance with the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005. In comparison to such Central Authorities, the fees prescribed by the Rules are exorbitant and stand to be one of the highest in the country. It appears that such exorbitant fees are charged to deprive financially weak applicants from seeking required information. It also appears that steep fees are prescribed to discourage the public at large to seek information from authorities and slow down the effective implementation of the Act and goals set out therein.

22. That such variance in fees between various authorities has been recognized

21
as a threat to the Act. The 2nd Administrative Reforms Commissions recommended that:the States should frame Rules regarding application fee in harmony with the Central Rules and ensure that the fee should not become a disincentive for using the right to information.

23. That the power delegated to the Competent Authority to frame rules regarding the fees structure for information under the right to information application are subject to Section 28 of the Act. Section 28 (2) (i) of the Act states that the Rules framed may provide for the cost of the medium or print cost price of the materials to be disseminated under sub-section (4) of section 4. The use of the word cost instead of fee/ amount or price is evidence of the legislatures intention for the fees to be a form of reimbursement of expenses incurred by the concerned authority whilst providing

information and not to let such fees be form of a revenue generating exercise.

24. That the Competent Authority under Section 28 of the Act while framing rules regarding fees is bound to consider the reasonability of such amount of fees. Unreasonable fees, is one of the biggest reasons for the ineffective implementation of the Act and for the applicants preferring a first appeal. Such unreasonable fees have been recognized as attempts to subvert the intention and objective of the Act.

25. That the provision of fees of Rupees Hundred for the purpose of filing a first

22
appeal to the Appellate Authority created as per Section 19 (1) of the Act by the Honble High Court also has no basis in law and is arbitrary and ultra vires the Act. Rule 7(6) of the Rules reads as under:
(vi) A fee of Rupees One hundred per appeal on form F shall be paid by way of adhesive court fee stamps or demand drafts/ bankers cheque/ Indian postal orders in favour of Registrar , Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time.

It is pertinent to mention that the Act per se does not provide for any Court Fees of any kind for filing a first appeal to the Appellant Authority, and neither does it provide for any fees for filing a second appeal before the Central/State Information Commission. This fee for filing a first appeal is an unnecessary burden on the applicant, who would be already aggrieved with the inaction/wrongful action of the Public Information Officer. It is pertinent to mention herein that the Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005 applicable to all second appeals to the Central Information Commission do not provide for any fee for filing an appeal. A copy of the same are annexed herewith as ANNEXURE P-7. Similarly, the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost Rules) 2005 do not provide for any fees for filing a first appeal. Furthermore, the first appeal is provided as a matter of right to the applicant and in fact, Section 19 (5) of the parent Act provides that the In any appeal proceedings, the onus to prove that a denial of a request was justified shall be on the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, who denied the request. Therefore, not only

23
there is an unfettered right to file an appeal, but also the onus is on the Public Information Officer. However, the provision of Court fees for filing an appeal in the Rules is an unnecessary and illegal burden placed in the exercise of a citizens statutory and constitutional rights.

26. IN RE: RULE 4 That Rule 4 is vaguely worded, arbitrary and in principle can and has been misused. It goes against the mandate of the parent Act and therefore is illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional. Rule 4 reads as under: 4. Exemption from disclosure of information: 1. The Information which relates to judicial functions and duties of the Court and matter incidental and ancillary thereto shall not be disclosed in terms of Section 8(1)(b) of the Act. Provided that the question as to which information relates to judicial functions, duties of Court and matters incidental and ancillary or of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority or his delegate, whose decision shall be final. 2. Any information affecting the confidentiality of any

examination/selection process conducted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for any or all categories of posts including that for Punjab/Haryana Civil Services (Judicial Branch) and Punjab/Haryana Superior Judicial Services.

24
Provided that the marks obtained by the candidates in each subject shall be displayed on the website of the Court after the conclusion of the selection process or at any early date, if decided to be disclosed not affecting the confidentially and transparency of selection process. 27. That while Section 8 (b) of the Act states: 8. Exemption from disclosure of information.Section 8 (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen,.; (b) information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court; Thus Section 8(b) exempts information which is specifically forbidden by the Court, the generality of exemptions under Rule 4 cannot be interpreted to be expressly forbidden by Courts. Thus, very narrow category of cases are provided wherein the disclosure can be exempted, and same has to be done vide an express order. Also, an administrative/quasi-judicial application of mind would have to made regarding whether to apply Section 8 (b) of the Act, regarding each request of information. This necessitates that the nature of the information required by the applicant should be decided on a case by case basis. Thus, the Rules cannot provide for a blanket ban on all information relating to judicial functions and duties of the Court and matter incidental and ancillary as the same would be arbitrary and against the idea of transparency.

25
28. That the Act is premised on disclosure being the norm and refusal being the exception. It is legally established that the information requested for under the Act may be exempted from disclosure in accordance with the Act only. Such exemptions are exhaustive and not illustrative. Hence, no other exemptions can be cited to reject an application. 29. That despite the decision in the matter of Shri Keshav Kaushik v. High Court of Punjab & dated Haryana, 29.8.2008, Chandigarh, the Central Appeal Information

No.CIC/WB/A/2008/01415

Commission, the CIC had not only granted the information to the Petitioner the said case, which was being denied to him on ground of Rule 4, but also the Commission, exercising its power under Section 19(8) of the Act, recommended that a review of Rule 5 (since deleted) and Rule 4 be undertaken. The Commission stated It is also recommended to the High Court of Punjab & Haryana u/s 19(8) (a) that they may consider a similar review as that undertaken by the High Court of Delhi of its rule 5, of rule 4 of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 A copy of the said order of the Central Information Commission is hereinafter annexed as ANNEXURE P-8. Section 19(8) of the Act reads as follows: (8) In its decision, the Central Information Commission or State Information Commission, as the case may be, has the power to(a) require the public authority to take any such steps as may be necessary to secure compliance with the provisions of this Act, including(i) by providing access to information, if so requested, in a particular

26
form; (ii) by appointing a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be; (iii) by publishing certain information or categories of information; (iv) by making necessary changes to its practices in relation to the maintenance, management and destruction of records; (v) by enhancing the provision of training on the right to information for its officials; (vi) by providing it with an annual report in compliance with clause (b) of sub- section (1) of section 4; (b) require the public authority to compensate the complainant for any loss or other detriment suffered; (c) impose any of the penalties provided under this Act; (d) reject the application. However, despite the statutorily provided mandatory recommendation from Respondent No. 2, Respondent No. 1 has failed to act, and still retains Rule 4, despite the fact that it is ultra vires the parent Act. 30. Furthermore, the practical problems by ordinary citizens can be brought forth by decisions of the Central Information Commission, as a consequence of Rule 4, which is prone to misuse. The decisions show that the concerned authorities of Respondent No. 1 have denied the information to the several applicants, not under Section 8 of the Act but under the Rule 4. Such acts of the concerned authorities of the Respondent No. 1 are arbitrary and the against the mandate of the parent Act. 31. For example in the matter of Sudesh Kumar Goyal v. High Court of Punjab

27
and Haryana [CIC/WB/A/2010/000070SM], it was held as under by the Central Information Commission:

3. The Appellant had wanted a number of Information relating to the Haryana Superior Judicial Services, such as, total number of available posts, yearwise, number of vacancies filled by promotion and those filled by direct appointment, number ofpersons stillworkingonadhoc basis, reaso ns for reducing the number of general category vacancies etc. The APIO refused to disclose the information by citing the rules 4(a) and 5 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules 2007. When the Appellant, not satisfied with the rejection of his request by the APIO, approached the first Appellate Authority, that authority allowed the appeal partly and directed the PIO to provide the information as desired at Sr. Nos xii, xiii and xxii following which the said information was also disclosed. The Appellate Authority, however, endorsed the decision of the APIO in respect of the remaining requests. 4.During the hearing, the Respondent reiterated the arguments offered by both the APIO and the Appellate Authority in declining most of the informa tion. He argued that he was bound by the rules framed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in this regard. When pointed out that information could be denied only if expressly exempted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and not by any other rules whosoever might have framed those, the Respondent submitted that he was bound by the rules framed by his

28
own High Court and could not comment on whether those rules were in conformity with the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act or not. 5.We find the stand taken by the APIO and the Appellate Authority earlier as well as by the Respondent during the hearing to be totally out of sync with the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Neither the APIO nor the Appellate Authority has anywhere cited any of the exemption provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in support of his decision for not disclosing much of the information sought by the Appellant. They have merely referred to the rules made by the High Court in exercise of its powers under Section 28 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Section 28 confers powers on the competent authority, such as, the High Court, to m ake rules to carry out the provisions of this Act. Obviously, no competent authority can make rules to obstruct the disclosure of information by adding additional exemption provisions not contained in the original Act. The kind of information the Appellant has sought in the present case is entirely administrative in nature. If the High Court holds this information in its possession, it must disclose it. All that is required to be disclosed in this case is a series of information which should be contained in various files and records of the High Court, provide d it holds those records presently. It is important to note that neither the APIO nor the Appellate Authority has mentioned anywhere in his respective order that the desired information, meaning thereby the relevant records, is not being held by the High Court.

29
6.In the light of the above, we are of the clear and categorical view that the desired information should be disclosed in terms of the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.. 32. That similarly in Mehar Singh v. CPIO, High Court of Punjab and Haryana [CIC/WB/C/201 0/000581 SM], the Central Information Commission held that: 3. The Complainant had approached the CPIO seeking some information regarding the action taken on a representation he had made to the then Chief Justice of the High Court. The CPIO had informed him that the desired information could not be disclosed in terms of Rule 4(a) and 5 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana(Right to Information) Rules 2007 without explaining how these rules came in the way disclosure of the desired information. 4. We carefully considered the submissions of both the parties. We also carefully perused the response of the CPIO. We find his response completely unsatisfactory. He has not passed a speaking order of

while denying the information. He has not even made it clear how the Rules cited by him are relevant to his decision. In any information under the Right case, any

to Information (RTI) Act can be denied

only if exempted under that Act. Rules framed by any competent authority for carrying out the provisions of that Act cannot replace or substitute the provisions of the said Act. We hope the CPIO will keep this in mind in future and while denying any information would pass a

speaking order citing the appropriate exemption provisions from the Right to Information (RTI) Act and not from the Rules made by the High Court. 5. In the present case, the desired information is about the action taken

30
on some representation made by the Complainant. There is no reason why this information should not be disclosed as it is not covered under any of the exemption provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Therefore, we direct the CPIO to provide to the Complainant within 10 working days of receiving this order the desired information including the photocopy of any relevant record/file noting which may be available.

33. That the right to information is a fundamental right of the citizens of India. This has been recognized by the Supreme Court in several decisions and subsequently such right was codified by the Parliament in 2005. The Act was enacted with the spirit of ensuring transparency and access to information giving citizens the right to avail information. It lays down the substantive right to information of the citizens and the practical mechanism to enforce the said right. The scheme of the RTI Act stipulates inter alia supply of the desired information within the period prescribed, institution of a proper appellate mechanism and imposition of stringent penalties where the PIO fails to provide the information within the mandated period without reasonable cause.

34. That the object of Section 27 and 28 of the Act is to simplify the operationalization of Act for both citizens and the public authorities; The citizens may seek to enforce their fundamental right to information by simply applying to the concerned authority under the provisions of the Act.

31
Section 28 envisages the competent authority to make provisions for carrying out the purposes of the Act and not for denying information, the denial of which is not permitted by the Act.

35. That the preamble to the Right to Information Act, 2005 reads: democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities

accountable to the governed.

36. That various Honble Courts have declared in a plethora of cases that the most important value for the functioning of a healthy and well informed democracy is transparency. In the matter of State of UP v. Raj Narain, AIR 1975 SC 865, a constitutional bench of the Honble Supreme Court held that: [I]n a government of responsibility like ours, where all the agents of the public must be responsible for their conduct, there can be but few secrets. The people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way, by their functionaries (Para 74)

37. That in the case of S.P. Gupta v. President of India and Ors, AIR 1982 SC 149, the seven Judge Bench of the Honble Supreme Court of India made the following observations regarding the right to information: There is also in every democracy a certain amount of public suspicion

32
and distrust of government varying of course from time to time according to its performance, which prompts people to insist upon

maximum exposure of its functioning Now, if secrecy were to be observed in the functioning of government and the processes of

government were to be kept hidden from public scrutiny, it would tend to promote and encourage oppression, corruption and misuse or abuse of authority, for it would all be shrouded in the veil of secrecy without any public accountability. But if there is an open government with

means, of information available to the public there would be greater exposure of the functioning of government and it would help to assure the people a better and more efficient administration. (Para 65)

38. That in the case of Union of India v. Association

for

Democratic

Reforms AIR 2002 SC 2112, while declaring that right to information is part of the fundamental right of citizens, under Article 19(1)(a), a 3 judge bench of the Honble Supreme Court of India, held unequivocally that: The right to get information in a democracy is recognised all throughout and is a natural right flowing from the concept of democracy. (Para 56)

39. That the said Rules have been framed without keeping in mind the objectives of the Act and without application of mind. 40. That the following table illustrates the Rules which are ultra vires of the parent Act.

33

SR. NO.

IMPUGNED RULE UNDER THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA (RIGHT TO INFORMATION) RULES, 2007 AND SIMILAR RULES FOR THE SUBORDINATE JUDICIARY

RIGHT

TO

INFORMATION

ACT

2005,

SECTIONS

THEREUNDER (CENTRAL

ACT)

Rule 3 1 Rule 4 2 Rule 7 3 Rule 6 4

Section 5 and 6 Section 8 (b)

Section 7 and 28 Section 6

41. That the Rules negate the citizens right to information under the Act and frustrate the implementation of the latter. The Act is a reflection of the will of the citizens of India that has been codified by the Parliament, and accepting Rules repugnant to the provisions and object of the Act would render the Act redundant. 42. That it is humbly submitted the Honble Courts being alter of justice and protector of the people and their rights, should lead the way as role models in implementation of the provisions of the RTI Act, in its true letter and spirit and inspire all public authorities to follow their lead in transparency. This would certainly enhance the faith of an ordinary man in the judiciary and also enable better delivery of the citizens fundamental right to information.

GROUNDS

34

43. That in view of the facts and circumstances enumerated above, the impugned rules are liable to be quashed on the following grounds:

i.

That Rule 3, 4, 7 and 6 inter alia of the Rules contain provisions that are ultra vires the Right to Information Act, 2005, which i n t e r a l i a provides a legal mechanism to enforce and implement the citizens right to information guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.

ii.

That Rule 3, 4, 7 and 6 inter alia of the Rules are arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional, and are against the mandate of the letter and spirit of the Right to Information Act. They create unnecessary impediments and fetters to the proper exercise of the Indian citizens right to information.

iii.

That Rule 7 made in pursuance of Section 28, RTI Act, 2005, prescribe an exorbitant cost of Rs 500 for all information relating to tender documents/bids/quotation/business contract and furthermore impose an inflated cost of Rs. 10 and 20 per page of information to be supplied, thus creating different rates for supplying the same information thus impeding the access to information for the vast majority of the population that is not economically advanced.

35

iv.

That the impugned fee structure under the Rules are discordant with the fee with the actual cost of providing the information;

v.

That Rule 6 is clearly violative of Section 6 of the Act as it restricts the rights provided by the parent Act to a common citizen and imposes undue and arbitrary fetters on exercise of Right to Information.

vi.

That Rule 4 goes beyond the list of exemptions provided by the Act and hence is violative of the Act. The delegated power to the Competent Authority to prescribe Rules are subject to the parent Act and such capacity to frame rules cannot go beyond the power which is designated to it.

vii.

That Rule 3 provides for restrictive timings and specific format which results in severe restrictions on the Act which are against Sections of the Act and go against the objective of the Act.

viii.

That in accordance with Section 22 of the Act, the provisions of the Act would override all the existing laws and Rules. The citizens have a right to access information under the Act or the Rules.

ix.

The impugned Rules nullify or whittle down the precious

36
right that has been conferred by the Act. In a large number of cases, like in Commissioner of Income Tax Bombay v Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing Company Ltd., AIR 1992 SC 1782 this Honble Court has held, The rules are meant only to carry out the provisions of the Act and cannot take away what is conferred by the Act or whittle down its effect.

44. That in the facts and circumstances of the present case as enumerated above, the following the questions of law would arise for adjudication before this Honble Court: i. Whether rules 3, 4, 6 and 7 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Haryana

Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 arbitrary, unreasonable and

unconstitutional and ultra vires the parent Act and also violative Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India? 45. That there is no alternative efficacious remedy available with the petitioner except to approach this Honble Court by way of filing the present writ petition. No appeal or revision lies in the conspectus of the present case.

46. That the petitioner has not filed any other such or similar writ petition in this Honble High Court or in the Honble Supreme Court of India.

37
PRAYER

In view of the facts & circumstances stated above, it is most respectfully prayed that this Honble Court in public interest may be pleased to: i. Issue appropriate writ quashing Rules 4 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, as unconstitutional and/ or ultra-vires the Right to

Information Act 2005 and/ or;

ii.

Issue appropriate writ quashing Rules 6 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 as unconstitutional and/ or ultra-vires the Right to Information Act 2005 and/ or;

iii.

Issue appropriate writ quashing Rules 7 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 as unconstitutional and/ or ultra-vires the Right to

38
Information Act 2005 and/ or;

iv.

Issue appropriate writ quashing Rules 7 (i-A) and 7 (i-B) of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 as unconstitutional and/ or ultra-vires the Right to Information Act 2005 and/ or;

v.

Issue appropriate writ quashing Rule 3 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 and the Haryana Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Punjab Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007, Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 as unconstitutional and/ or ultra-vires the Right to Information Act 2005 and/ or;

vi.

Issue appropriate writ directing the Respondent No. 1 and the subordinate courts within the jurisdiction of the Honble High Court of Punjab and Haryana to consider the application of the Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules 2006 framed by the Central Government which are also being followed by the Honble Supreme Court and/ or;

vii. viii.

to dispense with filling of advance copies of notice; to dispense with the filing of certified copies of Annexures P-1 to P-8

39
ix. Issue or pass any writ, direction or order, which this Honble court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.

Dated this day 13th of February 2013

Petitioner

Chandigarh

ARJUN SHEORAN, Advocate

Petitioner in Person

40

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. ________ of 2013

ARJUN SHEORAN Petitioners Versus HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA THROUGH ITS REGISTRAR AND OTHERS Respondents AFFIDAVIT
OF

ARJUN SHEORAN,

SON OF

SANJEEV BHARTI, HOUSE

NO. 1, SECTOR-16/A, CHANDIGARH. I, the above named deponent, do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:
1. That the deponent is fully conversant with the facts of the case and is therefore, competent to swear the present affidavit. 2. That the averments made in para 1 to para 45 are true and correct to my knowledge. No Part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed therein. 3. That the deponent is filling the accompanying petition in public interest and has no personal interest in the same.

Chandigarh

(ARJUN SHEORAN) DEPONENT

Dated: 13th February, 2013

40-A
VERIFICATION
Verified that the contents of my above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge. No part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed therein. Chandigarh Dated: 13th February, 2013

(ARJUN SHEORAN) DEPONENT

41
Vol. V. 1 PART-K exercise of powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 28 read with Section 2(e)(iii) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana hereby makes the following rules, namely:1. Short title and commencement: (i) (ii) (iii) These rules shall be called the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007. These rules shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. These rules shall be applicable to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh.
[86][In

Ch. 7-K

2. Definitions: (i) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) Act means the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005); (b) Appendix means the appendix appended to these rules; (c) Authorized Person means Public Information Officer and Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such by the Chief Justice of the High Court; (d) Appellate Authority means designated as such by the Chief Justice of the High Court; (e) Form means a form appended to these rules; (f) High Court means the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; (g) Section means the section of the Act; (ii) Words and expressions used but not defined in these Rules, shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Act. 3. Application for seeking information: Any person seeking information under the Act shall make an application in Form A to the authorized person, in between 11.00 A.M. to 1.00 P.M., on a Court working day and shall deposit application fee as per Rule 7 by paying fee by way of adhesive court fee stamps or demand drafts/ bankers cheque/ Indian postal orders in favour of Registrar , Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time: Provided that a person, who makes a request through electronic form, shall ensure that the requisite fee is deposited with the authorized person, in the manner mentioned above, within seven days of his sending the request through electronic form, failing which, the application shall be treated as dismissed:

42
Vol. V. 2 Ch. 7-K

Provided further that the date of application shall be deemed to be the date of deposit of the entire fee or the balance fee or deficit amount of the fee to the authorized person. 4. Exemption from disclosure of information: 1. The Information which relates to judicial functions and duties of the Court and matter incidental and ancillary thereto shall not be disclosed in terms of Section 8(1)(b) of the Act. Provided that the question as to which information relates to judicial functions, duties of Court and matters incidental and ancillary or of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority or his delegate, whose decision shall be final. 2. Any information affecting the confidentiality of any examination/selection process conducted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for any or all categories of posts including that for Punjab/Haryana Civil Services (Judicial Branch) and Punjab/Haryana Superior Judicial Services. Provided that the marks obtained by the candidates in each subjest shall be displayed on the website of the Court after the conclusion of the selection process or at any early date, if decided to be disclosed not affecting the confidentially and transparency of selection process. 5. 6. (i) Deleted. Disposal of application by the authorized person: If the requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorized person, he shall order return of the application to the applicant in Form C as expeditiously as possible in any case within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, advising the applicant, wherever possible, about the authority concerned to whom the application should be made. The application fee deposited in such cases shall not be refunded. If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction and also in one or more of the categories of restrictions listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rule 5 above and exemptions detailed in Rule 4 above, the authorized person, on being satisfied, will issue the rejection order in Form D as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application. If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction, but not in one or more of the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rules 4 and 5 above, the authorized person, on being so satisfied, shall supply the information to the applicant in Form E, falling within its jurisdiction. In case the information sought is partly outside the jurisdiction of the authorized

(ii)

(iii)

43
Vol. V. 3 Ch. 7-K

person or partly falls in the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act, the authorized person shall supply only such information as is permissible under the Act and is within its own jurisdiction and reject the remaining part giving reasons thereof. (iv) The information shall be supplied as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application on deposit of the balance amount, if any, to the authorized person, before collection of the information. A proper acknowledgement shall be obtained from the applicant in token of receipt of information Deleted. 7. Charging of Fee: (i) The application fee: A minimum of Rupees fifty shall be charged as application fee. (i-A) The authorized person shall charge the fee for supply of information at the following rates: Sr. Description of information Price/fees in rupees No. (A) Where the information is On printed price. available in the form of a priced publication (B) For other publication than priced Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application.

(v)

(C)

Where information is Rupees one hundred per available in electronic form floppy and Rupees two and is to be supplied in hundred per CD. electronics form e.g. Floppy, CD etc. Information relating to Rupees Five hundred per tenders application. documents/bids/quotation/ Business contract

(D)

44

Vol. V. (ii)

Ch. 7-K

The fee for inspection of documents or record shall be Rs. 10/- per fifteen minutes or a fraction thereof and Rs. 20 per 15 minutes in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act, for the inspection of record/document.

(iii)

The fees given above may be varied/enhanced by the competent authority from time to time. Every page of information to be supplied shall be duly authenticated and shall bear the seal of the officer concerned supplying the information. During inspection the applicant shall not be allowed to take the photograph of the record/document. The applicant shall not cause any hindrance to the Office work and shall cooperate with the staff and complete the inspection as soon as possible. The Public Information Officer concerned shall have the right to fix the time and date of the inspection according to administrative convenience and his/her decision shall be final. A fee of Rupees One hundred per appeal on form F shall be paid by way of adhesive court fee stamps or demand drafts/ bankers cheque/ Indian postal orders in favour of Registrar , Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time.

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

8. Appeal: (i) (a) Any personwho fails to get a response in Form C or Form D from the authorized person within thirty days of submission of Form A, or is aggrieved by the response received within the prescribed period, appeal in Form F to the Appellate Authority and affix fee for appeal as per rule 7.

(b)

(ii)

On receipt of the appeal, the Appellate Authority shall acknowledge the receipt of appeal and after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard, shall endeavour to dispose it of within thirty days

45

Vol. V.

Ch. 7-K

from the date, on which it is presented and send a copy of the decision to the authorized person concerned. (iii) In case the appeal is allowed, the information shall be supplied to the applicant by the authorized person within such period as may be ordered by the Appellate Authority. This period shall not exceed thirty days from the date of the receipt of the order.

9. Penalties : (i) Whoever being bound to supply information fails to furnish the information asked for, under the Act, within the time specified or fails to communicate the rejection order, shall be liable to pay a penalty up to fifty rupees per day for the delayed period beyond thirty days subject to a maximum of five hundred rupees per application, filed under rule 3 as may be determined by the appellate authority. Where the information supplied is found to be false in any material particular and which the person is bound to supply it knows and has reason to believe it to be false or does not believe it to be true, the person supplying the information shall be liable to pay a penalty of one thousand rupees, to be imposed by the appellate authority. publication of Information by public

(ii)

10. Suo motu authorities: (i)

(ii)

The public authority shall suo motu publish information as per sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act by publishing booklets and / or folders and / or pamphlets and update these publications every year as required by subsection (1) of Section 4 of the Act. Such information shall also be made available to the public through information counters, medium of internet and display on notice board at conspicuous places in the office of the Authorized Person and the Appellate Authority.

11. Maintenance of Records: (i) (ii) The authorized person shall maintain records of all applications received for supply of information and fee charged. The appellate authority shall maintain records of all appeals filed before it and fee charged.

46
Vol. V. 6 Ch. 7-K FORM A Form of application for seeking information (See rule 3) I.D. No.. (For official use) To The authorized person 1. Name of the applicant 2. Address 3. Particulars of the information sought (a) Concerned department: High Court (b) Period for which information is sought (c) Other details, if any 4. A Court fee of Rs.has been affixed on the application Place: Date: Signature of the Applicant E-mail address, if any.. Telephone No.(Office).. (Residence)..

Note: (i)

Please ensure that the Form A is complete in all respect and there is no ambiguity in providing the details of information required.

47
Vol. V. 7 FORM B Acknowledgement of Application in Form A I.D. No. Dated 1. Received an application in Form A from Mr./Ms. resident of under Section..of the Right to Information Act, 2005. 2. The information is proposed to be given normally within fifteen days and in case within thirty days from the date of receipt of application and in case it is found that the information asked for cannot be supplied, the rejection letter shall be issued stating reason thereof. 3. The applicant is advised to contact the undersigned on..between 11.00 A.M. to 1.00 P.M. 4. In case the applicant fails to turn up on the scheduled date(s), the undersigned shall not be responsible for delay. if any. 1. The applicant shall have to deposit the balance fee, if any, before collection of information. 2. The applicant may also consult Web-site of the department from time to time to ascertain the status of his application. Signature & Stamp of the Authorised Person E-mail Web-site Telephone No. Dated Ch. 7-K

48
Vol. V. 8 Ch. 7-K

FORM C Outside the Jurisdiction of the authorized person [rule 6( i)] From No .................................. Dated .

To . . Sir/Madam. Please refer to your application, I.D. No... dated.. addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on 2. The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the undersigned and, therefore, your application is being returned herewith. 3. You are requested to apply to the concerned authorized person

Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

49

Vol. V.

9 FORM D Rejection Order [rule 6(ii)]

Ch. 7-K

No.. From . . To . . Sir/Madam,

Dated.

Please refer to your application I.D. No. date..addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on 2. The information asked for cannot be supplied due to following reasons:(i) (i) 3. As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order. Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

50
Vol. V. 10 Ch. 7-K FORM E Form of Supply of information to the applicant [rule 6(iii)] Dated.

No From .. To Sir/Madam,

Please refer to your application, I. D. No.. dated.addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on or 2. The information asked for is enclosed for reference.* The following partly information is being enclosed.* (i) (ii) The remaining information about the other aspects cannot be supplied due to the following reasons:(i) (ii) (iii) 3. The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the undersigned.* 4. As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order.*. Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No. *Strike out if not applicable.

51
Vol. V. 11 FORM F Ch. 7-K

Appeal under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005

[rule 8(i)]

I.D. No (For official use)

To Appellate Authority Address : 1. Name of the Applicant

2. Address 3. Particulars of the authorized person (a) Name (b) Address 4. Date of submission of application in Form A 5 Date on which 30 days from submission of Form A is over 6. Reasons for appeal (a) No response received in Form B or C within thirty days of submission of Form A[8(i)(a)]. (b) Aggrieved by the response received within prescribed period [8(i)(b)] [copy of the reply received be attached]. (c) Grounds for appeal. 7. 7. Last date for filing the appeal. [See Rule 8(iii)] Particulars of information :---

(i) Information requested (ii) Subject (iii) Period 7. A court fee of Rs. 100/- for appeal has been affixed.

Place Date

Signature of Appellant E-mail address, if any: Telephone No. (Office) (Residence)

52
Vol. V. 12 Acknowledgement
I.D. No.. Dated Received an Appeal application from Shri/Ms.. resident of ........................under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Ch. 7-K

Signature of Receipt Clerk. Appellate Authority Telephone No. E-mail address, Web-site By order of Hon bIe the Chief Justice and Judges. (Sd.).. Registrar General .]

53

HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Correction Slip No.140 Rules/II.D.4, dated 14-8-2007 The following Rules shall be added as Part G after Part F of Chapter 5 of Rules and Orders of Punjab High Court, Volume-4. In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section(1) of Section 28 read with Section 2(e) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), Hon'ble the Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana are pleased to make the following rules, namely :1 . Short title and commencement : (i) (ii) These Rules shall be called the Haryana Subordinate Courts, (Right to Information) Rules, 2007. These rules shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

(iii) These rules shall be applicable to all the Subordinate Courts in the State of Haryana. 2 . (i) (a) Definitions : In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires: 'Act' means the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005); (b) (c) 'Appendix' means the appendix appended to these rules; `Authorized Person means Public Information Officer and Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court. `Appellate Authority means designated as such by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court. `Administrative Officer means the Chief Administrative Officer/Superintendent of the office of District & Sessions Judge `Chief Ministerial Officer means'(the Senior most official out of cadre of Readers/Judgment Writers/Stenographers as case may be) of the Court presided over by the senior most judicial Officer at the station having more than one Court other than the District Head quarters and the Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court where there is only one Court at a station. 'Competent Authority' means the Hon'ble Administrative Judge of the concerned Sessions Division as a delegatory of the competent authority as defined in the Act.

(d) (e)

(f)

(g)

54

(h) (i) (j)

'Form' means a form appended to these rules ; 'High Court' means the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; 'Section' means the section of the Act.

(ii) Words and expressions used but not defined in these Rules, shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Act. 3. Ap pli ca tio n fo r s ee ki ng in fo r ma tio n : Any person seeking information under the Act shall make an application in Form 'A' to the authorized person, between 11.00 A.M. to 1.00 P.M., on a Court working day and shall deposit application fee as per Rule 7 by paying adhesive court fee, or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time. Provided that a person, who makes a request through electronic form, shall ensure that the requisite fee is deposited with the authorized person, in the manner mentioned above, within seven days of his sending the request through electronic form, failing which, the application shall be treated as dismissed. Provided further that the date of application shall be deemed to be the date of deposit of the entire fee or the balance fee or deficit amount of the fee to the authorised person. 4. Exemption from disclosure of information. The information specified under Section 8 of the Act shall not be disclosed and made available and in particular the following information shall not be disclosed:1. The information which relates to judicial functions and duties of the Court and matter incidental and ancillary thereto shall not be disclosed in terms of Section 8(1)(b) of the Act. Provided that the question as to which information relates to judicial functions, duties of Court and mater incidental and ancillary or of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority or his delegate, whose decision shall be final. 2. Any information affecting the confidentiality of any examination/selection process conducted by the District & Sessions Judge under Haryana Subordinate Courts Establishment (Recruitment and General Conditions of Service) Rules, 1997 as amended from time to time. The question of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority, and in case of the information relating to a Sessions Division by the Administrative Judge of the said Sessions Division acting as a delegatee of the competent

55

authority, whose decision shall be final.

5. 6.

De le te d. Disposal of application by the authorized person. (i) If the requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorized person, he shall order return of the application to the applicant in Form `C as expeditiously as possible in any case within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, advising the applicant, wherever possible, about the authority concerned to whom the application should be made. The application fee deposited in such cases shall not be refunded. (ii) If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction and also in one or more of the categories of restrictions listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rule 5 above and exemptions detailed in Rule 4 above, the authorized person, on being satisfied, will issue the rejection order in Form `D as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application. (iii) If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction, but not in one or more of the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rules 4 and 5 above, the authorized person, on being so satisfied, shall supply the information to the applicant in Form `E, falling within its jurisdiction. In case the information sought is partly outside the jurisdiction of the authorized person or partly falls in the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act, the authorized person shall supply only such information as is permissible under the Act and is within its own jurisdiction and reject the remaining part giving reasons thereof. (iv) The information shall be supplied as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application on deposit of the balance amount, if any, to the authorized person, before collection of the information. A proper acknowledgment shall be obtained from the applicant in token of receipt of information. (v) Deleted

7 . ( i )

Charging of Fee. The authorized person shall charge the fee for supply of information at the following rates, :-

56

Sr. No. Description of information

Price/fees in rupees

(A) (B)

Where the information is available in the form of a priced publication. For other than priced publication

On printed price. Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application.

(C) Where information i s available in Rupees one hundred electronic form and is to be supplied p e r f l o p p y a n d in electronics form e.g. Floppy, CD Rupees two hundred per CD. etc. (D) Information relating to tenders Rupees hundred documents/bids/quotation/business application. contract. (ii) Five per

The fee for inspection of documents or record shall be Rs. 10/per fifteen minutes or a fraction thereof and Rs. 20 per 15 minutes in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act, for the inspection of record/document. (iii) The fees given above may be varied/enhanced by the competent authority from time to time. (iv) Every page of information to be supplied shall be duly authenticated and shall bear the seal of the officer concerned supplying the information. (v) During inspection the applicant shall not be allowed to take the photograph of the record/document. The applicant shall not cause any hindrance to the Office work and shall cooperate with the staff and complete the inspection as soon as possible. The Public Information Officer concerned shall have the right to fix the time and date of the inspection according to administrative convenience and his/her decision shall be final. (vi) A Court fee of Rupees One hundred per appeal shall be affixed on the application for appeal in Form F. 8 . ( i ) Appeal. Any person (a) who fails to get a response in Form C or Form D from the authorized person within thirty days of submission of Form A, or

57

(b) is aggrieved by the response received within the prescribed period, appeal in Form `F to the Appellate Authority and affix fee for appeal as per rule 7. ( i) On receipt of the appeal, the Appellate Authority shall acknowledge the receipt of appeal and after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard, shall endeavour to dispose it of within thirty days from the date, on which it is presented and senda copy of the decision to the authorized person concerned.

(iii) In case the appeal is allowed, the information shall be supplied to the applicant by the authorized person within such period as may be ordered by the Appellate Authority. This period shall not exceed thirty days from the date of the receipt of the order. 9. (i) Penalties. Whoever being bound to supply information fails to furnish the information asked for, under the Act, within the time specified or fails to communicate the rejection order, shall be liable to pay a penalty up to fifty rupees per day for the delayed period beyond thirty days subject to a maximum of five hundred rupees per application, filed under rule 3 as may be determined by the appellate authority.

(ii) Where the information supplied is found to be false in any material particular and which the person is bound to supply it knows and has reason to believe it to be false or does not believeit to be true, the person supplying the information shall be liableto pay a penalty of one thousand rupees, to be imposed by the appellate authority. 10. Suo motu publication of Information by public authorities. ( i ) The public authority shall suo motu publish information as per sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act by publishing booklets and/or folders and/or pamphlets and up date these publications every year as required by sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act. (ii) Such information shall also be made available to the public through information counters, medium of internet and display on notice board at conspicuous places in the office of the authorized person and the appellate authority. 11. Maintenance of Records. (i)The authorized person shall maintain records of all applications received for supply of information and fee charged. (iii)The appellate authority shall maintain records of all appeals filed before it and fee charged.

58

FORM A Form of application for seeking information

(See rule 3) I.D. No. _________ (For official use) To The authorized person. 1 , 2 . 3 . (a) (b) (c) Name of the Applicant A d d r e s s Particulars of information soughtConcerned department District Courts Sub Divisional Courts Per iod for w h ich in fo r mation is sough t Other details, if any

4 .

A Court fee of Rs ............. has been affixed on the application.

Place, Date

Signature of Applicant E-mail address, if any, :Telephone No. (Office)... (Residence)...

Note: ( i ) Please ensure that the Form A is complete in all respect and there is no ambiguity in providing the details of information required.

59

FORM B Acknowledgment of Application in Form A

I.D.No.

Dated

1. Received an application in Form A from Mr./Ms resident of under Section _____ of the Right to Information Act, 2005. 2. in The information is proposed to be given normally within fifteen days and case within thirty days from the date of receipt of application and in case it is found that the information asked for cannot be supplied, the rejection letter shall be issued stating reason thereof. 3. 4. The applicant is advised to contact the undersigned on __ between 11 A.M. to 1.00 P.M. In case the applicant fails to turn up on the scheduled date(s), the undersigned shall not be responsible for delay, if any.

5. The applicant shall have to deposit the balance fee, if any, before collection of information. 6. time The applicant may also consult Web site of the department from time to to ascertain the status of his application.

Signature & Stamp of the Authorised Person E-mail Web-site Telephone No. Dated

60

FORM C Outside the Jurisdiction of the authorized person [rule 6(i)]No. From Dated:

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No......... d a t e d . addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on __________ 2. 3. The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the undersigned and, therefore, your application is being returned herewith. You are requested to apply to the concerned authorized person. Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

61

FORM D Rejection Order [rule 6(ii)]No. From Dated

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No .... dated ...... addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on _________ 2. The information asked for cannot be supplied due to following reasons:(i)

(ii)

3 . As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order. Yours faithfully, Authorised PersonE-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

62

FORM E Form of Supply of information to the applicant [rule 6(iii)] No.____________________ Dated ________ From

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No .... dated ..... addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on _________ or 2. The information asked for is enclosed for reference.*

The following partly information is being enclosed.* (i) (ii) The remaining information about the other aspects cannot be supplied due to following reasons:-* (i) (ii) (iii) 3 . 4 . The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the undersigned.* As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order.* Yours faithfully, Authorised PersonE-mail address Web-site Telephone No. * Strike out if not applicable.

63

FORM F Appeal under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 [rule 8(i)] I.D. No. To Appellate Authority Address: 1 . 2 . 3 . Name of the Applicant A d d r e s s Particulars of the authorized person ( a ) (b) 4. 5. 6 . N a m e Address (for official use)

Date of submission of application in Form A Date on which 30 days from submission of Form A is over Reasons for appeal (a) No response received in Form B, or C within thirty days of submission of Form A [8(i)(a)]. (b) Aggrieved by the response received within prescribed period [8(i)(b)] [copy of the reply received be attached]. ( c ) Grounds for appeal.

7. 8.

Last date for filing the appeal. [See Rule 8(iii)] Particulars of Information (i) (ii) ( i) Information requested Subject Period.

9 .

A court fee of Rs.100/- for appeal has been affixed.

Place Date

Signature of Appellant E-mail Address, if any: Telephone No. (Office) (Residence)

64

Acknowledgment I.D. No. Dated Received an Appeal application from Ms _______________________________________________ resident ______________ under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Shri/ of

Signatures of Receipt Clerk, Appellate Authority Telephone No. E-Mail Address Web Site

BY ORDER OF HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDGES REGISTRAR GENERAL

HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

NOTIFICATION

No. 325 Rules/II.D.4, Dated 16-8-2007 In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 5(1) and (2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, Hon'ble the Chief Justice and Judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court have been pleased to designate the following officers as the Assistant Public Information Officers, Public Information Officers and the First Appellate Authorities for the Subordinate Courts of Haryana, as required under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Sr. No. 1 a)Court o f District and Sessions Judge and Courts of Additional District and Sessions Judges at District head quarters.
Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court of District

Name of the Court Assistant Public Information Officers

Public Information Officers Chief Administrative officer/ Supdt. in the office of District & Sessions Judge
Chief

Appellate Authority

District and Sessions Judge of the respective Sessions Division

& b ) Courts o f Additional Sessions Distt. & Sessions Judge at Judge

Senior most Ministerial Additional District places where there is no Sr.Ahalmed/ Officer of the and Sessions Court of Judge. District & Sessions Judge StenograSenior most pher Additional District & Sessions Judge 2 Court o f Civil Senior Division Judge, Chief Clerk of Court Civil Judge(Sr.

Ministerial of the office of Div.) Officer of t h e C i v i l Judge (Sr. the Court

Divn.)

65

Courts o f Chief Judicial Senior Most Chief Ahalmed/ / Ministerial Magistrate

Stenographer

Officer of the Court

Chief Judicial Magistrate

Courts o f situated at than the Quarters.

Civil Judges Senior most Chief Senior most places other Ahalmed/Ste Ministerial Judicial Officer. District Head no-grapher Officer of the Senior most Judicial Officer Chief Senior most Ministerial Judicial Officer. Officer of the Senior most Judicial Officer

5 Courts Judge Court Judge level of Additional Civil Senior most (S r. Division) or Ahalmed/Ste o f S . r M os t Civil no-grapher a t S u b Divisional

BY ORDER OF HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDGES REGISTRAR GENERAL

66

HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Correction slip No.142 Rules/II.D.4. Dated 14-8-2007 The following Rules shall be added as Part F after Part E of Chapter 5 of Rules and Orders of Punjab High Court, Volume-4. In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section(1) of Section 28 read with Section 2(e) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), Hon'ble the Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana are pleased to make the following rules, namely :1 . Short title and commencement : (i) (ii) These Rules shall be called the Punjab Subordinate Courts, (Right to Information) Rules, 2007. These rules shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

(iii) These rules shall be applicable to all the Subordinate Courts in the State of Punjab. 2 . (i) Definitions : In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) (b) (c) 'Act' means the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005); 'Appendix' means the appendix appended to these rules; `Authorized Person means Public Information Officer and Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court. `Appellate Authority means designated as such by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court. `Administrative Officer means the Chief Administrative Officer/Superintendent of the office of District & Sessions Judge `Chief Ministerial Officer means'(the Senior most official out of cadre of Readers/Judgment Writers/Stenographers as case may be) of the Court presided over by the senior most judicial Officer at the station having more than one Court other than the District Head quarters and the Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court where there is only one Court at a station. 'Competent Authority' means the Hon'ble Administrative Judge of the concerned Sessions Division as a delegatory of the competent authority as defined in the Act.

(d) (e)

(f)

(g)

67

(h) (i) (j)

'Form' means a form appended to these rules ; 'High Court' means the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; 'Section' means the section of the Act.

(ii) Words and expressions used but not defined in these Rules, shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Act. 3. Ap pli ca tio n fo r s ee ki ng in fo r ma tio n : Any person seeking information under the Act shall make an application in Form 'A' to the authorized person, between 11.00 A.M. to 1.00 P.M., on a Court working day and shall deposit application fee as per Rule 7 by paying adhesive court fee, or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time. Provided that a person, who makes a request through electronic form, shall ensure that the requisite fee is deposited with the authorized person, in the manner mentioned above, within seven days of his sending the request through electronic form, failing which, the application shall be treated as dismissed. Provided further that the date of application shall be deemed to be the date of deposit of the entire fee or the balance fee or deficit amount of the fee to the authorised person. 4. Exemption from disclosure of information. The information specified under Section 8 of the Act shall not be disclosed and made available and in particular the following information shall not be disclosed:1. The information which relates to judicial functions and duties of the Court and matter incidental and ancillary thereto shall not be disclosed in terms of Section 8(1)(b) of the Act. Provided that the question as to which information relates to judicial functions, duties of Court and mater incidental and ancillary or of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority or his delegate, whose decision shall be final. 2. Any information affecting the confidentiality of any examination/selection process conducted by the District & Sessions Judge under Punjab Subordinate Courts Establishment (Recruitment and General Conditions of Service) Rules, 1997 as amended from time to time. The question of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority, and in case of the information relating to a Sessions Division by the Administrative Judge of the said Sessions Division acting as a delegatee of the competent authority, whose decision shall be final.

68

5. 6.

De le te d. Disposal of application by the authorized person. (i) If the requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorized person, he shall order return of the application to the applicant in Form `C as expeditiously as possible in any case within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, advising the applicant, wherever possible, about the authority concerned to whom the application should be made. The application fee deposited in such cases shall not be refunded.

(ii) If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction and also in one or more of the categories of restrictions listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rule 5 above and exemptions detailed in Rule 4 above, the authorized person, on being satisfied, will issue the rejection order in Form `D as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application. (iii) If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction, but not in one or more of the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rules 4 and 5 above, the authorized person, on being so satisfied, shall supply the information to the applicant in Form `E, falling within its jurisdiction. In case the information sought is partly outside the jurisdiction of the authorized person or partly falls in the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act, the authorized person shall supply only such information as is permissible under the Act and is within its own jurisdiction and reject the remaining part giving reasons thereof. (iv) The information shall be supplied as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application on deposit of the balance amount, if any, to the authorized person, before collection of the information. A proper acknowledgment shall be obtained from the applicant in token of receipt of information. (v) Deleted.
7 . ( i ) Charging of Fee. The authorized person shall charge the fee for supply of information at the following rates, :-

Sr. No. Description of information

Price/fees in rupees

69

(A) (B)

Where the information is available in the form of a priced publication. For other than priced publication

On printed price. Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application.

(C) Where information i s available in Rupees one hundred electronic form and is to be supplied p e r f l o p p y a n d in electronics form e.g. Floppy, CD Rupees two hundred per CD. etc. (D) Information relating to tenders Rupees hundred documents/bids/quotation/business application. contract. (ii) Five per

The fee for inspection of documents or record shall be Rs. 10/per fifteen minutes or a fraction thereof and Rs. 20 per 15 minutes in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act, for the inspection of record/document. (iii) The fees given above may be varied/enhanced by the competent authority from time to time. (iv) Every page of information to be supplied shall be duly authenticated and shall bear the seal of the officer concerned supplying the information. (v) During inspection the applicant shall not be allowed to take the photograph of the record/document. The applicant shall not cause any hindrance to the Office work and shall cooperate with the staff and complete the inspection as soon as possible. The Public Information Officer concerned shall have the right to fix the time and date of the inspection according to administrative convenience and his/her decision shall be final. (vi) A Court fee of Rupees One hundred per appeal shall be affixed on the application for appeal in Form F. 8 . ( i ) Appeal. Any person (a) (b) who fails to get a response in Form C or Form D from the authorized person within thirty days of submission of Form A, or is aggrieved by the response received within the prescribed period, appeal in Form `F to the Appellate Authority and affix fee for appeal as per rule 7.

70

( i)

On receipt of the appeal, the Appellate Authority shall acknowledge the receipt of appeal and after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard, shall endeavour to dispose it of within thirty days from the date, on which it is presented and send a copy of the decision to the authorized person concerned.

(iii) In case the appeal is allowed, the information shall be supplied to the applicant by the authorized person within such period as maybe ordered by the Appellate Authority. This period shall not exceed thirty days from the date of the receipt of the order. 9. (i) Penalties. Whoever being bound to supply information fails to furnish the information asked for, under the Act, within the time specified or fails to communicate the rejection order, shall be liable to pay a penalty up to fifty rupees per day for the delayed period beyond thirty days subject to a maximum of five hundred rupees per application, filed under rule 3 as may be determined by the appellate authority.

(ii) Where the information supplied is found to be false in any material particular and which the person is bound to supply it knows and has reason to believe it to be false or does not believeit to be true, the person supplying the information shall be liable to pay a penalty of one thousand rupees, to be imposed by the appellate authority. 10. Suo motu publication of Information by public authorities. ( i ) The public authority shall suo motu publish information as per sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act by publishing booklets and/or folders and/or pamphlets and up date these publications every year as required by sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act. (ii) Such information shall also be made available to the public through information counters, medium of internet and display on notice board at conspicuous places in the office of the authorized person and the appellate authority. 11. Maintenance of Records. (i)The authorized person shall maintain records of all applications received for supply of information and fee charged. (ii)The appellate authority shall maintain records of all appeals filed before it and fee charged.

71

FORM A Form of application for seeking information (See rule 3) I.D. No. _________ (For official use) To The authorized person. 1 , 2. 3. (a) (b) ( c ) Name of the Applicant Address P a r t i c u l a r s o f i n f o r ma t i o n s o u g h t Concerned department District Courts Sub Divisional Courts Period for which information is sought Other details, if any

4 .

A Court fee of Rs..................has been affixed on the application.

Place, Date

Signature of Applicant E-mail address, if any, :Telephone No. (Office)... (Residence)...

Note: ( i ) Please ensure that the Form A is complete in all respect and there is no ambiguity in providing the details of information required.

72

FORM B Acknowledgment of Application in Form AI.D.No.

Dated

1. Received an application in Form A from Mr./Ms resident of under Section _____ of the Right to Information Act, 2005. 2. in The information is proposed to be given normally within fifteen days and case within thirty days from the date of receipt of application and in case it is found that the information asked for cannot be supplied, the rejection letter shall be issued stating reason thereof. 3. 4. The applicant is advised to contact the undersigned on __ between 11 A.M. to 1.00 P.M. In case the applicant fails to turn up on the scheduled date(s), the undersigned shall not be responsible for delay, if any.

5. The applicant shall have to deposit the balance fee, if any, before collection of information. 6. time The applicant may also consult Web site of the department from time to to ascertain the status of his application.

Signature & Stamp of the Authorised PersonE-mail Web-site Telephone No. Dated

73

FORM C Outside the Jurisdiction of the authorized person [rule 6(i)]No. From Dated:

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No......... d a t e d . addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on __________ 2. the 3. The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of undersigned and, therefore, your application is being returned herewith. You are requested to apply to the concerned authorized person. Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

74

FORM D Rejection Order [rule 6(ii)] No._____________________ Dated ________ From

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No .... dated ...... addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on _________ 2. The information asked for cannot be supplied due to following reasons:(i) (ii) 3 . As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order. Yours faithfully, Authorised PersonE-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

75

FORM E Form of Supply of information to the applicant [rule 6(iii)] No. ____________________Dated ____ From

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No ........ dated ..... addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on _________ or 2. The information asked for is enclosed for reference.*

The following partly information is being enclosed.* (i) (ii) The remaining information about the other aspects cannot be supplied due to following reasons:-* (i) (ii) (iii) 3 . 4 . The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the undersigned.* As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order.* Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No. * . Strike out if not applicable.

76

FORM F Appeal under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 [rule 8(i)] I.D. No. To Appellate Authority Address: 1 . 2 . 3 . Name of the Applicant A d d r e s s Particulars of the authorized person ( a ) (b) 4. 5. 6 . N a m e Address (for official use)

Date of submission of application in Form A Date on which 30 days from submission of Form A is over Reasons for appeal (a) No response received in Form B, or C within thirty days of submission of Form A [8(i)(a)]. (b) Aggrieved by the response received within prescribed period [8(i)(b)] [copy of the reply received be attached]. ( c ) Grounds for appeal.

7 .

Last date for filing the appeal. [See Rule 8(iii)] Particulars of Information (i) (ii) ( i) Information requested Subject Period.

8.

9 .

A court fee of Rs. 100/- for appeal has been affixed.

Place Date

Signature of Appellant E-mail Address, if any: Telephone No. (Office)(Residence)

77

Acknowledgment I.D. No. Dated Received an Appeal application from Ms _______________________________________________ resident ______________ under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Shri/ of

Signatures of Receipt Clerk, Appellate Authority Telephone No. E-Mail Address Web Site

BY ORDER OF HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDGES REGISTRAR GENERAL

HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

NOTIFICATION

No. 326 Rules/II.D.4, Dated 16-8-2007 In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 5(1) and(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, Hon'ble the Chief Justice andJudges of Punjab and Haryana High Court have been pleased to designate the following officers as the Assistant Public Information Officers, Public Information Officers and the First Appellate Authorities for the Subordinate Courts of Punjab, as required under Section 19 ofthe Right to Information Act, 2005.
Sr. No. 1 a)Court o f District and Sessions Judge and Courts of Additional District and Sessions Judges at District head quarters.
Chief Ministerial Chief Officer of Administrative the Court of officer/ Supdt. in the office of District & & Sessions Judge District Sr.Ahalmed/ Judge Stenogra- pher Chief

Name of the Court

Assistant Public Information Officers

Appellate Authority Public Information Officers District and Sessions Judge of the respective Sessions Division

Sessions Senior most Ministerial Additional District Officer of the and Sessions Court of Judge. Senior most Additional District & Sessions Judge Civil Div.) Judge(Sr.

b ) Courts o f Additional Distt. & Sessions Judge at places where there is no District & Sessions Judge

2 Court o f Civil Senior Division Judge, Chief Ministerial Clerk of Court of the office of Officer of the Civil the Court Judge (Sr. Divn.)

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3 Courts o f Chief Judicial Senior Most Ahalmed/ / Magistrate

Stenograp- her

Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court

Chief Judicial Magistrate

Courts o f situated at than the Quarters.

Civil Judges Senior most Chief places other Ahalmed/Ste no- Ministerial Officer of the District Head grapher Senior most Judicial Officer Small Chief Registrar, Ministerial Officer Small Cause of the respective Court. court.

Senior most Judicial Officer.

5 Courts Cause of Judge

Judge, Court of Small Cause.

6 Courts Judge Court Judge level

of Additional Civil Senior most (S r. Division) or Ahalmed/Ste o f S . r M os t Civil no-grapher at S u b Divisional

Chief Senior most Ministerial Judicial Officer. Officer of the Senior most Judicial Officer

BY ORDER OF HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDGES

REGISTRAR GENERAL

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HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

Correction slip
No.141 Rules/II.D.4.

Dated 14-8-2007

The following Rules shall be added as Part H after Part G of Chapter 5 of Rules and Orders of Punjab High Court, Volume-4. In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section(1) of Section 28 read with Section 2(e) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), Hon'ble the Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana are pleased to make the following rules, namely :1 . Short title and commencement : (i) (ii) These Rules shall be called the Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts (Right to Information) Rules, 2007. These rules shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

(iii) These rules shall be applicable to all the Subordinate Courts in the Union Territory, Chandigarh. 2 . (i) Definitions : In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) (b) (c) 'Act' means the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005); 'Appendix' means the appendix appended to these rules; `Authorized Person means Public Information Officer and Assistant Public Information Officer designated as such by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court. `Appellate Authority means designated as such by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court. `Administrative Officer means the Chief Administrative Officer/Superintendent of the office of District & Sessions Judge

(d) (e)

(f)

`Chief Ministerial Officer means'(the Senior most official out of cadre of Readers/Judgment Writers/Stenographers as case may be) of the Court presided over by the senior most judicial Officer at the station having more than one Court other than the District Head quarters and the Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court where there is only one Court at a station. (g) 'Competent Authority' means the Hon'ble Administrative Judge of the concerned Sessions Division as a delegatory of the competent authority as defined in the Act.

80

(h) (i) (j)

'Form' means a form appended to these rules ; 'High Court' means the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; 'Section' means the section of the Act.

(ii) Words and expressions used but not defined in these Rules, shall have the same meanings assigned to them in the Act. 3. Ap pli ca tio n fo r s ee ki ng in fo r ma tio n : Any person seeking information under the Act shall make an application in Form 'A' to the authorized person, between 11.00 A.M. to 1.00 P.M., on a Court working day and shall deposit application fee as per Rule 7 by paying adhesive court fee, or in any other form so determined by the competent authority from time to time. Provided that a person, who makes a request through electronic form, shall ensure that the requisite fee is deposited with the authorized person, in the manner mentioned above, within seven days of his sending the request through electronic form, failing which, the application shall be treated as dismissed. Provided further that the date of application shall be deemed to be the date of deposit of the entire fee or the balance fee or deficit amount of the fee to the authorised person. 4. Exemption from disclosure of information. The information specified under Section 8 of the Act shall not be disclosed and made available and in particular the following information shall not be disclosed:1. The information which relates to judicial functions and duties of the Court and matter incidental and ancillary thereto shall not be disclosed in terms of Section 8(1)(b) of the Act. Provided that the question as to which information relates to judicial functions, duties of Court and mater incidental and ancillary or of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority or his delegate, whose decision shall be final. 2. Any information affecting the confidentiality of any examination/selection process conducted by the District & Sessions Judge under Chandigarh Union Territory Subordinate Courts Establishment (Recruitment and General Conditions of Service) Rules, 1997 as amended from time to time. The question of confidentiality shall be decided by the Competent Authority, and in case of the information relating to a Sessions Division by the Administrative Judge of the said Sessions Division acting as a delegatee of the competent

81

authority, whose decision shall be final. 5. 6. De le te d. Disposal of application by the authorized person. (i) If the requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorized person, he shall order return of the application to the applicant in Form `C as expeditiously as possible in any case within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, advising the applicant, wherever possible, about the authority concerned to whom the application should be made. The application fee deposited in such cases shall not be refunded. (ii) If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction and also in one or more of the categories of restrictions listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rule 5 above and exemptions detailed in Rule 4 above, the authorized person, on being satisfied, will issue the rejection order in Form `D as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application. (iii) If the requested information falls within the authorized persons jurisdiction, but not in one or more of the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and Rules 4 and 5 above, the authorized person, on being so satisfied, shall supply the information to the applicant in Form `E, falling within its jurisdiction. In case the information sought is partly outside the jurisdiction of the authorized person or partly falls in the categories listed in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act, the authorized person shall supply only such information as is permissible under the Act and is within its own jurisdiction and reject the remaining part giving reasons thereof. (iv) The information shall be supplied as soon as practicable, normally within fifteen days and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application on deposit of the balance amount, if any, to the authorized person, before collection of the information. A proper acknowledgment shall be obtained from the applicant in token of receipt of information. (v) Deleted.
7 . ( i ) Charging of Fee. The authorized person shall charge the fee for supply of information at the following rates, :-

Sr. No. Description of information

Price/fees in rupees

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(A) (B)

Where the information is available in the form of a priced publication. For other than priced publication

On printed price. Rupees ten per page and rupees twenty in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act with minimum of Rs. Fifty per application.

(C) Where information i s available in Rupees one hundred electronic form and is to be supplied p e r f l o p p y a n d in electronics form e.g. Floppy, CD Rupees two hundred per CD. etc. (D) Information relating to tenders Rupees hundred documents/bids/quotation/business application. contract. (ii) Five per

The fee for inspection of documents or record shall be Rs. 10/per fifteen minutes or a fraction thereof and Rs. 20 per 15 minutes in case the information is required under section 7 of the Act, for the inspection of record/document. (iii) The fees given above may be varied/enhanced by the competent authority from time to time. (iv) Every page of information to be supplied shall be duly authenticated and shall bear the seal of the officer concerned supplying the information. (v) During inspection the applicant shall not be allowed to take the photograph of the record/document. The applicant shall not cause any hindrance to the Office work and shall cooperate with the staff and complete the inspection as soon as possible. The Public Information Officer concerned shall have the right to fix the time and date of the inspection according to administrative convenience and his/her decision shall be final. (vi) A Court fee of Rupees One hundred per appeal shall be affixed on the application for appeal in Form F. 8 . i ( ) Appeal. Any person (a) who fails to get a response in Form C or Form D from the authorized person within thirty days of submission of Form A, or is aggrieved by the response received within the prescribed period, appeal in Form `F to the Appellate Authority and affix fee for appeal as per rule 7.

(b)

83

( i )

On receipt of the appeal, the Appellate Authority shall acknowledge the receipt of appeal and after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard, shall endeavour to dispose it of within thirty days from the date, on which it is presented and send a copy of the decision to the authorized person concerned.

(iii) In case the appeal is allowed, the information shall be supplied to the applicant by the authorized person within such period as maybe ordered by the Appellate Authority. This period shall not exceed thirty days from the date of the receipt of the order. 9. (i) Penalties. Whoever being bound to supply information fails to furnish the information asked for, under the Act, within the time specified or fails to communicate the rejection order, shall be liable to pay a penalty up to fifty rupees per day for the delayed period beyond thirty days subject to a maximum of five hundred rupees per application, filed under rule 3 as may be determined by the appellate authority.

(ii) Where the information supplied is found to be false in any material particular and which the person is bound to supply it knows and has reason to believe it to be false or does not believeit to be true, the person supplying the information shall be liable to pay a penalty of one thousand rupees, to be imposed by the appellate authority. 10. Suo motu publication of Information by public authorities.(i) The public authority shall suo motu publish information as per sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act by publishing booklets and/or folders and/or pamphlets and up date these publications every year as required by sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Act. ( i ) Such information shall also be made available to the public through information counters, medium of internet and display on notice board at conspicuous places in the office of the authorized person and the appellate authority. 11. Maintenance of Records. (i)The authorized person shall maintain records of all applications received for supply of information and fee charged. (iv)The appellate authority shall maintain records of all appeals filed before it and fee charged.

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FORM A Form of application for seeking information

(See rule 3) I.D. No. _________ (For official use) To The authorized person. 1 , 2 . 3 . (a) (b) (c) Name of the Applicant A d d r e s s Particulars of information sought Concerned department District Courts Sub Divisional Courts Per iod for w h ich in fo r mation is sough t Other details, if any

4 .

A Court fee of Rs ............. has been affixed on the application.

Place, Date

Signature of Applicant E-mail address, if any, :Telephone No. (Office)... (Residence)...

Note: (i) Please ensure that the Form A is complete in all respect and there is no ambiguity in providing the details of information required.

85

FORM B Acknowledgment of Application in Form AI.D.No.

Dated

1. Received an application in Form A from Mr./Ms resident of under Section _____ of the Right to Information Act, 2005. 2. in The information is proposed to be given normally within fifteen days and case within thirty days from the date of receipt of application and in case it is found that the information asked for cannot be supplied, the rejection letter shall be issued stating reason thereof. 3. 4. The applicant is advised to contact the undersigned on __ between 11 A.M. to 1.00 P.M. In case the applicant fails to turn up on the scheduled date(s), the undersigned shall not be responsible for delay, if any.

5. The applicant shall have to deposit the balance fee, if any, before collection of information. 6. time The applicant may also consult Web site of the department from time to to ascertain the status of his application.

Signature & Stamp of the Authorised PersonE-mail Web-site Telephone No. Dated

86

FORM C Outside the Jurisdiction of the authorized person [rule 6(i)]No. From Dated:

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No......... d a t e d . addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on __________ 2. the 3. The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of undersigned and, therefore, your application is being returned herewith. You are requested to apply to the concerned authorized person. Yours faithfully, Authorised Person E-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

87

FORM D Rejection Order [rule 6(ii)]No. From Dated

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No .... dated ..... addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on _________ 2. The information asked for cannot be supplied due to following reasons:(i)

(ii)

3. As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appealto the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order. Yours faithfully, Authorised PersonE-mail address Web-site Telephone No.

88

FORM E Form of Supply of information to the applicant [rule 6(iii)]No. From Dated

To

Sir/Madam, Please refer to your application, I.D. No .... dated ..... addressed to the undersigned regarding supply of information on _________ or 2. The information asked for is enclosed for reference.*

The following partly information is being enclosed.* (i) (i i) The remaining information about the other aspects cannot be supplied due to following reasons:-* (i) (ii) (iii) 3 . 4 . The requested information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the undersigned.* As per Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you may file an appeal to the Appellate Authority within thirty days of the issue of this order.* Yours faithfully, Authorised PersonE-mail address Web-site Telephone No. * Strike out if not applicable.

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FORM F Appeal under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 [rule 8(i)] I.D. No. To Appellate Authority Address: 1 . 2 . 3 . Name of the Applicant A d d r e s s Particulars of the authorized person ( a ) (b) 4. 5. 6 . N a m e Address (for official use)

Date of submission of application in Form A Date on which 30 days from submission of Form A is over Reasons for appeal (a) No response received in Form B, or C within thirty days of submission of Form A [8(i)(a)]. (b) Aggrieved by the response received within prescribed period [8(i)(b)] [copy of the reply received be attached]. ( c ) Grounds for appeal.

7. 8.

Last date for filing the appeal. [See Rule 8(iii)] Particulars of Information (i) (ii) (iii) Information requested Subject Period.

9 .

A court fee of Rs. 100/- for appeal has been affixed.

Place Date

Signature of Appellant E-mail Address, if any: Telephone No. (Office)(Residence)

90

Acknowledgment I.D. No. Dated Received an Appeal application from Ms _______________________________________________ resident _______________under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Signatures of Receipt Clerk,Appellate Authority Telephone No.
E-Mail Address Web Site

Shri/ of

BY ORDER OF HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDGES

REGISTRAR GENERAL

HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

NOTIFICATION

No.327 Rules/II.D.4, Dated 16-8-2007 In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 5(1) and(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, Hon'ble the Chief Justice andJudges of Punjab and Haryana High Court have been pleased to designate the following officers as the Assistant Public Information Officers, Public Information Officers and the First Appellate Authorities for the Subordinate Courts of U.T. Chandigarh, as required under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Sr. No. 1 a)Court o f District and Sessions Judge and Courts of Additional District and Sessions Judges at District head quarters.
Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court of District

Name of the Court Assistant Public Information Officers

Public Information Officers Chief Administrative officer/ Supdt. in the office of District & Sessions Judge
Chief

Appellate Authority

District and Sessions Judge of the respective Sessions Division

& b ) Courts o f Additional Sessions Distt. & Sessions Judge at Judge

Senior most Ministerial Additional District Officer of the and Sessions places where there is no Sr.Ahalmed/ Court of Judge. District & Sessions Judge StenograSenior most pher Additional District & Sessions Judge

91

2 Court o f Civil Senior Division

Judge, Chief

Ministerial of the office of Div.) Officer of t h e C i v i l Judge (Sr. the Court

Clerk of Court Civil

Judge(Sr.

Divn.) 3 Courts o f Chief Judicial Senior Most Chief Ahalmed/ / Ministerial Magistrate
Stenographer

Officer of the Court

Chief Judicial Magistrate

Courts o f situated at than the Quarters.

Civil Judges Senior most Chief Senior most places other Ahalmed/Ste Ministerial Judicial Officer. District Head no-grapher Officer of the Senior most Judicial Officer Chief Senior most Ministerial Judicial Officer. Officer of the Senior most Judicial Officer

5 Courts Judge Court Judge level of Additional Civil Senior most (S r. Division) or Ahalmed/Ste o f S . r M os t Civil no-grapher a t S u b Divisional

BY ORDER OF HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDGES

REGISTRAR GENERAL

Right To Information (Regulation Of Fee And Cost) Rules, 2005

Page 1 sur 1

92

The Right To Information (Regulation Of Fee And Cost) Rules, 2005

Published vide G.S.R. 336, dated 16.9.2005 and published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3(i), dated 25.9.2005.
22/960

In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (2) of section 27 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely: 1. Short title and commencement .(1) These rules may be called The Right to Information (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Definitions .In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, (a) Act means the Right to Information Act, 2005; (b) section means section of the Act; (c) all other words and expressions used herein but not defined and defined in the Act shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Act. 3. A request for obtaining information under sub-section (1) of section 6 shall be accompanied by an application fee of rupees ten by way of cash against proper receipt or by demand draft or bankers cheque [or Indian Postal Order] payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority. 4. For providing the information under sub-section (1) of section 7, the fee shall be charged by way of cash against proper receipt or by demand draft or bankers cheque or Indian Postal Order payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority at the following rates: (a) rupees two for each page (in A4 or A3 size paper) created or copied; (b) actual charge or cost price of a copy in larger size paper; (c) actual cost or price for samples or models; and [(d) for inspection of records, no fee for the first hour; and a fee of rupees five for each subsequent hour (or fraction thereof).] 5. For providing the information under sub-section (5) of section 7, the fee shall be charged by way of cash against proper receipt or by demand draft or bankers cheque or Indian Postal Order payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority at the following rates: (a) for information provided in diskette or floppy rupees fifty per diskette or floppy; and (b) for information provided in printed form at the price fixed for such publication or rupees two per page of photocopy for extracts from the publication. Chawla Publications (P) Ltd.

http://heserver/act960.htm

12/2/2013

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ANNEXURE P/

N0.F. 1/5/2011 -IR Government of lndia Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pension Department of Personnel & Training ****** North Block, New Delhi Dated April 26,201 1 1. The Chief Secretaries of all States/UTs (except J&K) 2. The Registrars of all High Courts 3. The Registrar of the Supreme Court Subject:- Harmonization of fee payable under the Right to lnformation Act. 2005 Sir. Sections 27 and 28 of the Right to lnformation Act, 2005 empower the appropriate Governments and the Competent Authorities to make rules to prescribe, inter-alia, the fees payable under the Act. In exercise of the powers. the Central Government, State Governments, High Courts etc. have notified rules. It has been observed that the fee prescribed by different appropriate Governments/Competent Authorities is at great variance. 2. The 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission has, in this regard

recommended that the States should frame Rules regarding application fee in harmony with the Central Rules and ensure that the fee should not become a disincentive for using the right to information. 3. All the States/Competent Authorities are, therefore, requested to kindly review their Fee Rules and to prescribe fee in consonance with the fee prescribed by the Government of lndia. A copy of the Right to

lnformation (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2005 notified by the Government of lndia is enclosed for ready reference.

94

4. Kindly inform us of the action taken in this regard.

Yours Faithfully KG Verma Sd/Director

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THE CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION (APPEAL PROCEDURE) RULES, 2005 CONTENTS Rule 1. Short Title and commencement 2. Definitions 3. Contents of appeal 4. Documents to accompany appeal 5. Procedure in deciding appeal 6. Service of notice by Commission 7. Personal presence of the appellant or complainant 8. Order of the Commission

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THE CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION (APPEAL PROCEDURE) RULES, 2005 NOTIFICATION F.No. 1/4/2005-IR, dated:28th Ocotober, 2005 Gazette of India, Extraordinary, dated 28-10-2005 G.S.R. 650(E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (e) and (f) of subsection (2) of section 27 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (22 of 2005), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely:1. Short Title and commencement.- (1) These rules may be called the Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Definitions.- In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,(a) "Act" means the Right to Information Act, 2005 ; (b) "Section" means section of the Act. (c) "Commission" means the Central Information Commission ; (d) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Act, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act. 3. Contents of appeal.- An appeal to the Commission shall contain the following information, namely.(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) name and address of the appellant ; name and address of the Central Public Information Officer against the decision of whom the appeal is preferred. particulars of the order including number, if any, against which the appeal is preferred ; brief facts leading to the appeal ; If the appeal is preferred against deemed refusal, the particulars of the application, including number and date and name and address of the Central Public Information Officer to whom the application was made ; prayer or relief sought ;

(vi)

(vii) grounds for the prayer or relief ; (viii) verification by the appellant ; and (ix) any other information which the Commission may deem necessary for deciding the appeal.

4. Documents to accompany appeal.- Every appeal made to the Commission shall be accompanied by the following documents, namely. (i) self-attested copies of the orders or documents against which the appeal is being preferred ;

97

(ii) (iii) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

copies of documents relied upon by the appellant and referred to in the appeal ; and an index of the documents referred to in the appeal. hear oral or written evidence on oath or on affidavit from concerned or interested person ; peruse or inspect documents, public records or copies thereof ; inquire through authorised officer further details or facts ; hear Central Public Information Officer, Central Assistant Public Information Officer or such Senior Officer who decide the first appeal, or such person against whom the complaint is made, as the case may be ; hear third party ; and receive evidence on affidavits from Central Public Information Officer, Central Assistant Public Information Officer, such Senior Officer who decide the first appeal, such person against whom the complaint lies or the third party.

5. Procedure in deciding appeal.- In deciding the appeal the Commission may.-

(v) (vi)

6. Service of notice by Commission.- Notice to be issued by the Commission may be served in any of the following modes, namely.(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) service by the party itself ; by hand delivery (dasti) through Process Server ; by registered post with acknowledgment due ; or through Head of Office or Department.

7. Personal presence of the appellant or complainant.- (1) The appellant or the complainant, as the case may be, shall in every case be informed of the date of hearing at least seven clear days before that date. (2) The appellant or the complainant, as the case may be, may at his discretion at the time of hearing of the appeal or complaint by the Commission be present in person or through his duly authorised representative or may opt not to be present. (3) Where the Commission is satisfied that the circumstances exist due to which the appellant or the complainant, as the case may be, is being prevented from attending the hearing of the Commission, then, the Commission may afford the appellant or the complainant, as the case may be, another opportunity of being heard before a final decision is taken or take any other appropriate action as it may deem fit. (4) The appellant or the complainant, as the case may be, may seek the assistance of any person in the process of the appeal while presenting his points and the person representing him may not be a legal practitioner. 8. Order of the Commission.- Order of the Commission shall be pronounced in open proceedings and be in writing duly authenticated by the Registrar or any other officer authorised by the Commission for this purpose.

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CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION Appeal No.CIC/WB/A/2008/01415 dated 29.8.2008 Right to Information Act 2005 Section 19 Appellant Respondent Shri Keshav Kaushik High Court of Punjab & Haryana, Chandigarh 17.11.2008 21.11.2008

Date of Hearing Date of Decision

Facts: By an application of 23.5.08 Shri Kaushik sought the following information from CPIO of High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh: 1. Kindly supply the Photo copy of my evaluated answer sheet no. 1148, paper V for General Knowledge carrying 25 multiple choice questions written by me on 22.2.2008 from 2 PM to 3 PM for Haryana Superior Judicial Examination. Kindly supply the Photo copy of my evaluated answer sheet for paper II, Law (Subsidiary Subject) bearing answer sheet no. 5148 dated 23.2.2008 written by me in the morning session from 9 PM to 12 noon for Haryana Superior Judicial Examination. Kindly supply the Photo copy of my evaluated answer sheet for paper I, Law (Core subject) bearing answer sheet no. 6148 dated 23.2.2008 written by me in the evening session from 2 PM to 5 PM for Haryana Superior Judicial Examination. Kindly supply the Photo copy of my evaluated answer sheet for paper III, English Essay on legal topic bearing answer sheet no. 5148 dated 24.2.2008 written by me in the morning session from 9 AM to 12 noon for Haryana Superior Judicial Examination. Kindly supply the Photo copy of my evaluated answer sheet for paper IV, Hindi Essay on a Social Topic bearing answer sheet no. 7049 dated 24.2.2008 written by me in the evening session from 2PM to 5PM for Haryana Superior Judicial Examination. Information regarding the 14 General vacancies/ posts to be filled for the post of Assistant District Sessions Judge in the State of Haryana pursuant to the notification dated 18.5.2007 and how many candidates were taken from the bar against the

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

99

vacancies/ notification dated 18.5.2007 and how many posts remain vacant category-wise in Haryana Superior Judicial Recruitment. 7. Kindly provide information as to under what provision of law the General Pool vacancies from the bar were filled up by the candidates of Fast, Track Courts and whether any written examination/ interview or selection process was conducted in respect of the recruitment/ appointment of Fast Track Courts Judges i.e. Additional District Sessions Judges in the Fast Track Courts in the State of Haryana.

The PIO in his reply dated 31.5.2008 refused to provide the information desired by the appellant relying upon Rule 4 of RTI Rules framed by the High Court in accordance with Section 28 of the RTI Act as follows: The requisite information cannot be supplied, as it falls under clause C of rule 4 framed by the Honble Punjab & Haryana High Court Under Section 28 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 called as High Court of Punjab & Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 which is reproduced below: (C) Any Information affecting the confidentiality of any examination/ selection process: (I) conducted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court including for Punjab/ Haryana Civil Services (Judicial Branch) and Punjab/ Haryana Superior Judicial Services. Thereafter appellant filed his 1st appeal before the Registrar (Admn) HC of P&H on 12.6.08. In deciding the appeal on 16.8.08, the first appellate authority Shri AS Narang held that PIO has rightly refused to part with the information as the information sought by the appellant could affect the confidentiality of the examination/ selection process, as follows: The appellant has placed reliance on the judgment of Honble Calcutta High Court in Pritam Rooj vs. University of Calcutta, AIR 2008 Calcutta 118. As far as the information sough for at Point No. 1 to 5 are concerned, I am of the considered opinion that the PIO rightly refused to part with the information, as the information sought for by the appellant affected the confidentiality of the examination/ selection process. In so far as the judgment rendered by the Honble Calcutta High Court in Pritam Roojs case (supra) is concerned, the same is not applicable to the facts of the case in hand. In the present case there are direct rules

100

framed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Right to Information) rules, 2007 which prohibit parting with this information. PIO is a creature of the Statute and is bound by the rules. This Authority is also a creature of the Statute and is also bound by the same. In view of the facts and circumstances explained above, I am of the considered view the appeal filed by the appellant is liable to be dismissed. The appellant then filed second appeal before the Commission on 27.6.08 which was decided by the Commission on 7.7.08 directing the Registrar (Admn) of High Court of Punjab & Haryana to dispose of the appeal within 15 working days but advising appellant Shri Kaushik that were he to be dissatisfied with the response in 1st appeal he would be free to move a second appeal u/s 19 sub-section (3) before us.

Now the appellant has filed a fresh appeal u/s 19 (3) on 28.8.2008 in which he has sought the following relief:This Honble Commission may graciously be pleased to direct the concerned Authority of Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh to provide the information sought by the appellant in his first application no. 212/APIO dated 24.5.2008 and in appeal no. RTI/AA/80 dated 2.7.2008 in the interest of justice. And this Honble Commission may further graciously be pleased to impose the penalty on the APIO/CPIO for not providing the information and not deciding the appeal within the statutory period. The PIO and the first appellate authority had taken the plea of exemption under Rule 4 of Punjab & Haryana High Court RTI rules framed as competent authority u/s 28 of the RTI Act.

It is true that the competent authorities defined in sub-sections to Sec. 2 sub-section (e) have been accorded with the power of making rules u/s 28 ibid. But the purpose or rationale behind such power was to facilitate the process of providing information to the information seeker. But in the present situation Rule 4 of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007 appears to have operated as a

hindrance in providing information to the applicant.

101

So as far as Rule 4 is concerned, it cannot stop the Commission from directing the concerned authority to provide information to applicant if we find the refusal in contradiction to the Act and therefore it is required that we exercise our discretion in determining whether the supply of duplicate evaluated copies of answer sheets is against the law.

The appeal was heard on 7.11.08. The following are present: Appellant 1. Shri Keshav Kaushik

Respondents at NIC Studio, Chandigarh. 1. Shri A. S. Narang, First Appellate Authority & Registrar of Admn. P&H High Court, Chandigarh 2. Shri Rajender Singh, PIO & Jt. Registrar, P&H High Court, Chandigarh Shri A. S. Narang, Registrar (Admn) P&H High Court submitted that they have received the notice of hearing only at 12.30 hrs. the same day and had no time to prepare a response. Appellant Shri Kaushik on the other hand submitted that he is already in Writ before the High Court which is to be heard on 11.11.08 for which he needs the information sought. Upon this Registrar (Admn) submitted that he will support

appellants plea for adjournment before the Honble Justices hearing arguments in appellants case on 11.11.08. On these grounds it was agreed by both parties that the next hearing before us would be by video conference on 17.11.08 at 4.00 p.m.

However, in the context of the present appeal, this Commission brought to the notice of Registrar (Admn) High Court of P&H our decision in Appeal No. CIC/WB/A/2007/00124 Narendra Yadav vs. High Court of Delhi announced on 13.12.07. In that case appellants prayer was for disclosure of marks sheet together with cut off marks in DJS mains and written examination, as follows: Honble The Chief Justice directed that the matter be placed before a Committee consisting of the Honble Ms. Gita Mittal J., Sh. A.K. Sikri, J. and Shri Mukul Mudgal, J. In their submission of Oct 30, 2007, the Honble Justices recommended as follows:

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The Committee has been consistently directing disclosure of marks and other non confidential information to the candidates of Delhi Judicial Service Examination, Delhi High Judicial Service Examination and other examinations conducted by this Court. Precedents in the form of information supplied by the Public Information Officer of this Court pursuant to the directions of the Committee may kindly be seen at Flag X. The confidentiality clause in Rule 5 (c) of Delhi High Court (Right to Information) Rules, 2006 cannot be invoked to decline disclosure of marks obtained by a candidate in an examination. On the other hand, a candidate is entitled to know the marks obtained in an examination. We are of the opinion that the information sought by the appellant ought to be supplied to him under intimation to the Central Information Commission. While allowing the adjournment in the present case Shri A. S. Narang, Registrar (Admn), P&H High Court was advised to keep the above recommendations of the Honble Justices of the Delhi High Court in mind when presenting his arguments before us. The appeal was the heard by videoconference on 17.11.2008. The following are present: Appellant Shri Keshav Kaushik Respondents at NIC studio, Chandigarh Shri A. S. Narang, Registrar. Dr. Balram Gupta, Sr. Advocate Shri Rajiv Raina, Advocate. Learned Counsel for respondents Dr. Balram Gupta submitted his reply to the appeal notice beginning with preliminary objections as follows: 1. That this Honble Commission has got no jurisdiction to entertain and try the present appeal, as the subject matter for which information was sought pertains to the State of Haryana. Hence the appeal is liable to be dismissed. That a Civil Writ Petition bearing No. 9157 of 2008 filed by the appellant is pending in the Honble High Court, wherein the Honble Division Bench of this Court has directed the respondents to keep the record ready for perusal of the Court and the case is pending for hearing on 2.12.2008. 5

2.

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In his arguments before us learned counsel submitted that the question concerns the selection of Additional District Judges in the State of Haryana who are appointed and paid by the State Government. For this reason, he submitted that this was outside the jurisdiction of C.I.C. It was, however, admitted that only the High Court of Punjab & Haryana held the information sought by appellant.

On the second preliminary objection, he submitted that since a Writ Petition was pending before the Honble Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana, scheduled for hearing on 2.12.08 on a similar subject, a decision of this Commission could amount to a statutory authority seeking to decide a matter pending decision before a constitutional authority. The recourse for appellant would be a Writ of Certiorari before the Honble High Court in order to obtain the information sought.

Upon this appellant Shri Keshav Kaushik submitted that it is the Central Information Commission, which exercises jurisdiction in areas concerning High Courts, which are Constitutional Authorities. Moreover, he submitted that he had exercised his right under the Right to Information Act in moving a second appeal under that Act before this Commission. The Writ Petition before the Honble High Court of Punjab & Haryana seeks a different remedy for which he agreed he required information sought under the Right to Information Act to strengthen his plea before that Court.

On the merits of this appeal Dr. Balram Gupta, learned Counsel for respondents submitted that appellant has asked for five answer books. However, he is not entitled to these u/s 8(1) (e). He also cited the High Court Rule 4 (c) and decision of the Honble Supreme Court of India in the following two cases: 2008 (1) SLR page 397, Para 7: The Courts normally should not direct the production of answer scripts to be inspected by the writ petitioners unless a case is made out to show that either some

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question has not been evaluated or that the evaluation has been done contrary to the norm as fixed by the examining body. AIR 1984 SC page 1543: In our opinion, the High Court was perfectly right in taking this view and in holding that the process of evaluation of answer papers or of subsequent verification of marks under d. (3) of Regn. 104 does not attract the principles of natural justice since, no decision making process which brings about adverse evil consequence to the examinees is involved. The principles of natural justice cannot be extended beyond reasonable and rational limits and cannot be allowed to participate on the process of evaluation of their performances or to verify the correctness of the evaluation made by the examiners by themselves conducting an inspection of the answer books, and determining whether there has been a proper and fair valuation of the answer by the examiners. Learned counsel Shri Balram Gupta also cited decisions of this Commission in certain appeals in which in his opinion, this Commission has held the same view.

On the questions 6 & 7, however, learned Counsel for respondent admitted that information was admissible and they were ready to supply the same to appellant. Written arguments of respondents were received through internet during the hearing, and have been quoted from above. A copy was handed over to appellant Shri Keshav Kaushik, who in turn submitted copies of both judicial orders cited by learned counsel for respondents, i.e. UOI & Ors vs. Vinod Kumar &Ors; AIR 2008 SC 5 and Maharashtra State Board of SHSE and another vs. Paritosh Bhupesh Kurmar Seth etc; AIR 1984 SC 1543

REASONS & DECISION To enable us to decide whether we proceed with deciding the merits of the case, we have first examined the preliminary objections. On the first preliminary objection it stands conceded by respondents that the information sought is held only by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana. Even though, therefore, the information may concern a matter that is the responsibility of the State Govt., we are here concerned with the access to the information by appellant Shri Keshav Kaushik. Sec. 2(j) of the RTI Act is clear:

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Sec. 2(j) "right to information" means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority 1 and includes the right to (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device; It is, therefore, the public authority that holds the information, which is liable to be accessed under the RTI Act, in this case clearly the High Court of Punjab & Haryana.

On issue No. 2 what has been sought by appellant from this Commission is an administrative remedy, whereas what he is seeking in Writ Petition in the High Court is a judicial remedy. It has been the practice with superior Courts while addressing administrative issues to advise petitioners to first seek administrative remedy before agitating the matter before the superior Court. In this case, therefore, the appellant Shri

Kaushik is within his right to seek the remedy sought by him under the R.T.I. Act so that he may place this before the Honble High Court for its consideration in disposing of his writ petition. Similarly a writ of certiorari is a writ seeking administrative remedy. On both preliminary objections, therefore, we find that the stand taken by the respondents, although most ably argued, is untenable.

On the merits of the case the following is the decision of the Full Bench in respect to access of answer sheets in our decisions dated 23.4.2007 in File No. CIC/WB/C/2006/00223 - Shri Rakesh Kumar Singh and Ors. vs. Lok Sabha Sectt. and Ors. :24. The Right to Information Act was enacted with a view to conferring a right to access information under the control
1

Underlined by us for emphasis

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of public authorities on all citizens. The Act recognizes that an informed citizenry and transparency of information are pre-requisite to a democracy and these are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed. The Act was enacted in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government and their instrumentalities. 25. However, the definition of the public authority as incorporated in the Act widens its ambit and scope even beyond the preamble when it defines a public authority to mean and include any authority or body or institution of self government established or constituted (a) by or under the Constitution; (b) by any other law made by Parliament; (c) by any other law made by State Legislature; (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and also includes. (i) any body owned, controlled or substantially financed (ii) non-Government organizations substantially financed, directly or indirectly by the funds provided by the appropriate governments. 26. Thus, a University and educational institution under control and substantially financed directly or indirectly by the government is a public authority under the Right to Information Act, even though the functioning of an educational institution or University may not be directly related to governance as such, the transparency wherein is the key objective of the Right to Information Act. 27. The Act further recognizes that revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Government, optimum use of fiscal resources and the preservation of the confidentiality and accordingly it aims at harmonizing these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideals. To secure these objectives, the Act provides for specified categories of information which cannot be disclosed and as such these are exempted under various provisions of the Act, primarily Sec 8. 28. It is the contention of the appellants that disclosure of evaluated answer sheets is not exempt under any of the subsections of Section 8(1). The respondents including the 9

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Central Board of Secondary Education have taken the plea that the evaluated answer sheets are exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(e) as there is a fiduciary relationship between the University/Board and the examiner and as such disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets will result in breach of this relationship. The appellants do not agree with this contention of the respondents and in support of their views, they have cited the decision of the Karnataka Information Commission wherein it has been held that there is no fiduciary relationship between the examiner and the University or the Board conducting the examination. 29. This Commission in a number of cases has, however, held that the fiduciary relationship between the examiner and the authority conducting examination exists and therefore, the disclosure of the information is exempt under Section 8(1)(e). In Ms. Treesa Irish Vs. Kerala Postal Circle case (ICPB/A- 2/COC/2006), it has been observed that when the answer papers are evaluated, the authority conducting the examination and the examiners evaluating the answer sheets stand in a fiduciary relationship between each other. Such a relationship warrants maintenance of confidentiality by both of the manner and method of evaluation. That is the reason why while mark sheets are made available as a matter of course, copies of the evaluated answer papers are not made available to the candidates. The aforesaid decision was cited with approval in another case decided by Mrs. Padma Balasubramanian in Shri J. Shahabudeen Vs. Director of Postal Services (ICPB/22/2006). The exemption under Section 8(1)(j) has also been applied by this Commission in case of disclosure of evaluated answer sheets in a complaint case decided on 22.9.2006 in Dr. (Mrs.) Archana S. Gawada Vs. Employees State Insurance Corporation and Others (Complaint No.PBA/06/103). However, a different view was taken in Smt. Bhudevi Vs. North Central Railway, Jhansi where the appellant had some doubt as to whether the paper examined was actually the paper which she had submitted, the Commission had ordered that the complainant be shown the answer sheets which she had written in the said examination. (CIC/OK/C/2006/00079 dated 13.12.2006). 30. Presently, the respondents have taken the plea that disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets is exempted under Section 8(1)(e) as disclosure of the identity of the examiner may endanger the life and physical safety of the examiner and as such the disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets is exempted under Section 8(1)(g) of the Right to Information Act. It is submitted on behalf of the appellants that they have requested for inspection/copies of the evaluated answer sheets and they are not interested in knowing the identity of the examiners. It is also contended 10

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that if the authority conducting the examination so desires, it can apply the severability clause enshrined in Section 10 of the Act and withhold the name of the examiner from being disclosed. In this context, the appellants also cited the following observation of the State Information Commission, West Bengal in Shri Utsab Dutta Vs. SPIO, University of Calcutta Here the Commission feels that the words Information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person is relevant, though such a possibility of identifying the examiners and scrutinizers by seeing the signature or handwriting on a mere inspection of the answer script is very remote. The Commission further feels that though such possibility is remote, when the University takes care not to disclose the identify of the examinees, it can very well evolve and apply similar or more full proof method of not disclosing the identity of the examiners and scrutinizers. 31. The word fiduciary is derived from the Latin fiducia meaning trust, a person (including a juristic person such as Government, University or bank) who has the power and obligation to act for another under circumstances which require total trust, good faith and honesty. The most common example of such a relationship is the trustee of a trust, but fiduciaries can include business advisers, attorneys, guardians, administrators, directors of a company, public servants in relation to a Government and senior managers of a firm/company etc. The fiduciary relationship can also be one of moral or personal responsibility due to the superior knowledge and training of the fiduciary as compared to the one whose affairs the fiduciary is handling. In short, it is a relationship wherein one person places complete confidence in another in regard to a particular transaction or ones general affairs of business. The Blacks Law Dictionary also describes a fiduciary relationship as one founded on trust or confidence reposed by one person in the integrity and fidelity of another. The meaning of the fiduciary relationship may, therefore, include the relationship between the authority conducting the examination and the examiner who are acting as its appointees for the purpose of evaluating the answer sheets. We do not tend to agree with the decision of the Karnataka Information Commission wherein it has been held that in a fiduciary relationship such as between the examiner and the University, there are obligations only on the part of examiner and that the authority conducting the examination being not a trustee has no obligations. Any relationship including a fiduciary relationship is bound to have mutual rights and obligations. Thus, in the case before us where there is fiduciary relationship between the examiner and the authority 11

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conducting the examination, the obligations are mutual. This relationship does not end once the evaluation of the answer sheets is complete. The concerned authority has to take care that by disclosing identity of the examiner, there is no possibility of an eventual harm to the examiner. Thus, even while disclosing the evaluated answer sheets the authority conducting the examination is obliged to ensure that the name and identity of the examiner is not disclosed. The authorities conducting the examination can, therefore, take recourse to the exemptions provided for under Section 8(1)(j). But applicability of Section 8(1)(j) per-se will not exclude disclosure unless the disclosure is also justified under Section 8(1)(e). The fiduciary relationship between the examiner and the authority conducting the examination is personal and it can extend only insofar as the disclosure of the identity of the examiner is concerned, but it cannot be stretched beyond that point and as such neither Section 8(1)(e) nor Section 8(1)(j) exempts disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets if the authority concerned ensures that the name and identity of the examiners, invigilators, scrutinizers and any other person involved with the process is kept confidential.

32. In so far as application of Section 8(1)(j) to deny disclosure on the ground that personal information which has no public interest is concerned, it is necessary to explain the scope and ambit of this sub section. Section 8(1)(j) reads as under: information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information . This Section has to be read as a whole. If that were done, it would be apparent that that personal information does not mean information relating to the information seeker, but about a third party. That is why, in the Section, it is stated unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual. If one were to seek information about himself or his own case, the question of invasion of privacy of his own self does not arise. If one were to ask information about a third party and if it were to invade the privacy of the individual, the information seeker can be denied the information on the ground that disclosure would invade the privacy of a third party. Therefore, when a citizen seeks information about his own case and as long as the information sought is not exempt in terms of other provisions of Section 8 of RTI Act, this Section 12

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cannot be applied to deny the information. Thus, denial for inspection/verification of his own answer sheets by a citizen applying the provisions of Section 8(1)(j) is not sustainable 33. It has been submitted before us at the time of hearing by the CBSE that they have above 9000 schools and there are about 12 lakh examinees each of them appearing in 5 subjects. Thus, there are at least 6 million answer sheets. The examination being a process where no one may feel satisfied with the end result, there will be a general demand of disclosure of the answer sheets and it will give rise to a situation impossible to manage. He also submitted that if the disclosure is allowed, it will lead to a situation where no finality will ever come by. The points raised by the CBSE are not without merit and they need serious consideration. After all it is a matter of common knowledge that the parents and the students are never satisfied with their assessment. Every University and Board has a mechanism for re-evaluation which can be made use of by those who have genuine apprehensions about the fairness of the system. The disclosure, therefore, of the evaluated answer sheets may be taken recourse in rare cases but it cannot have an enbono application, unless the University or the Board as the case may be introduces a system where the giving back of the evaluated answer sheets becomes or is made a regular practice, which this Commission hereby recommends. 33. Assuming, as contended by the appellants that Section 8(1) (e) cannot be applied in denying the disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets, we would like to examine the matter from another angle, keeping in mind the larger public interest purpose and ambit of RTI Act. The Act is founded on public interest and that is why, even where there are specific exemptions in certain matters, the CPIO has been given the discretion to disclose the same to different authorities if public interest so warrants. 34. The Supreme Court has examined the issue of public interest in the matter of allowing candidates to inspect their answer books or the revaluation of the answer papers in the presence of the candidates, in Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education Vs. Paritosh Bhupeshkumar Sheth &anr.(AIR 1984 SC 1543). In that case, the Rules framed by the said Board provided No candidate shall claim or be entitled to revaluation of his answers or disclosure or inspection of the answer books or other 20 documents as these are treated by the Divisional Board as most confidential. The constitutional validity of the above rule was challenged as being in violation of the principles of natural justice. The Court held: 13

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The principles of natural justice cannot be extended beyond reasonable and rational limits and cannot be carried to such absurd lengths as to make it necessary that candidates who have taken a public examination should be allowed to participate in the process of evaluation of their performances or to verify the correctness of the evaluation made by the examiners by themselves conducting an inspection of the answer books and determining whether there has been a proper and fair valuation of the answers by the examiners. The Court, further observing that the constitutional validity of a rule, among other aspects has to be tested to see whether it infringes any of the fundamental rights or other restrictions or limitations imposed by the Constitution, held that the said rule did not infringe any of the fundamental rights. The Court further noting, that the procedure evolved by the Board for ensuring fairness and accuracy in evaluation of the answer sheets had made the system as fool-proof as can be possible , observed as follows: The High Court has relied upon the fact that the University of Bombay and some other Universities have recently made provisions permitting candidates to demand revaluation. In our opinion, this has little relevance for the purpose of deciding about the legal validity of the impugned regulations framed by the Board. We do not know under what circumstances the University of Bombay has decided to recognize a right in the examinees to demand a revaluation. As far as the Board is concerned it has set out in the counteraffidavit the enormity of the task with which it is already faced, namely, of completing twice during each year the process of evaluation and release of results of some 3 lakhs of candidates appearing for the S.S.C. and H.S.C. examinations to be held in an interval of only a few months from one another. If the candidates are all to be given inspection of their answer books or 21 the revaluation of the answer papers is to be done in the presence of the candidates, the process is bound to be extremely time consuming and if such a request is made by even about ten per cent of the candidates, who will be 30,000 in number, it would involve several thousands of man hours and is bound to throw the entire system out of gear. Further, it is in the public interest that the results of Public examinations when published should have some finality attached to them. If inspection, verification in the presence of the candidates and revaluation are to be allowed as of right, It may lead to gross and indefinite uncertainty, particularly in 14

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regard to the relative ranking etc. of the candidates, beside leading to utter confusion on account of the enormity of the labour and time involved in the process. 35. Pointing out the Constitution Bench decision in Fatehchand Himmatlal Vs. State of Maharashtra (AIR 1977 SC 1825), that the test of reasonableness is not applied in a vacuum but in the context of life's realities, the Honble Apex Court further observed: If the principle laid down by the High Court is to be regarded as correct, its applicability cannot be restricted to examinations conducted by School Educational Boards alone but would extend even to all competitive examinations conducted by the Union and State Public Service Commissions. The resultant legal position emerging from the High Court Judgment is that every candidate who has appeared for any such examination and who is dissatisfied with his results would, as an inherent part of his right to the fair play be entitled to demand a disclosure and personal inspection of his answer scripts and would have a further right to ask for revaluation of his answer papers. The inevitable consequence would be that there will be no certainty at all regarding the results of the competitive examination for an indefinite period of time until all such requests have been complied with and the results of the verification and revaluation have been brought into account. ------- It will be wholly wrong for the court to make a pedantic and purely idealistic approach to the problems of this nature, isolated from the actual realities and grass root problems involved in the working of the system and unmindful of the consequences which would emanate if a purely idealistic view as opposed to a pragmatic one were to be propounded. It is equally important that the Court should also, as far as possible, avoid any decision or interpretation of a statutory provision, rule or bye-law which would bring about the 22 result of rendering the system unworkable in practice. It is unfortunate that this principle has not been adequately kept in mind by the High Court while deciding the instant case. 36. However, it has been argued before us that the aforesaid decision of the Honble Apex Court is prior to the enactment of the Right to Information Act under which every information under the control of a public authority is liable to be disclosed unless it is exempted from disclosure under any of the provisions of this Act. As recently as in 2006, that is after the RTI Act came into effect, the

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Supreme Court has again affirmed the said decision in the President, Board of Secondary Education, Orissa V D.Suvankar ( Civil Appeal No 4926 of 2006- Judgment dated 14.11.2006) stating it is in the public interest that the results of Public Examinations, when published should have some finality attached to them. If inspection, verification in the presence of candidates and revaluation is to be allowed as a matter of right, it may lead to gross and indefinite uncertainty, particularly in regard to the relative ranking etc. of the candidates, besides leading to utter confusion on account of enormity of the labour and time involved in the process The court should be extremely reluctant to substitute its own views as to what is wise, prudent and proper in relation to academic matters in preference to those formulated by professional men possessing technical expertise and rich experience of actual day to day working of educational institutions and the departments controlling them. 37. A reading of the above two judgments of the Honble Supreme Court will reveal that both judgments are based on larger public interest, which is also the foundation of RTI Act. However, in coming to the above conclusions, the Court has taken into consideration the facts that the rules of the Board do not provide for inspection of the evaluated answer sheets, that a large number of candidates are involved, that the examiners are appointed with care, that there is an inbuilt system of ensuring fair and correct evaluation with proper checks and balances 38. There are various types of examinations conducted by public authorities which could be either public or limited examinations. Examinations are conducted for various purposes viz. (i) for admission to educational institutions, (ii) for selection and appointment to a public office, (iii) for promotion to higher classes in educational institutions or in employment etc. There are institutions like UPSC, Staff Selection Commission, CBSE etc, the main function of which is only to conduct examinations. Many public authorities, as those in the present appeals like Jal Board, Railways, Lok Saba Secretariat, DDA, whose main function is not of conducting examinations, do so either to recruit fresh candidates for jobs or for promotion of existing staff. Thus these public authorities conduct both public as well as departmental examinations. 39. In regard to public examinations conducted by institutions established by the Constitution like UPSC or institutions established by any enactment by the Parliament or Rules made thereunder like CBSE, Staff Selection Commission, Universities., etc, the function 16

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of which is mainly to conduct examinations and which have an established system as fool-proof as that can be, and which, by their own rules or regulations prohibit disclosure of evaluated answer sheets or where the disclosure of evaluated answer sheets would result in rendering the system unworkable in practice and on the basis of the rationale followed by the Supreme Court in the above two cases, we would like to put at rest the matter of disclosure of answer sheets. We therefore decide that in such cases, a citizen cannot seek disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets under the RTI Act, 2005. 40. Insofar as examinations conducted by other public authorities, the main function of which is not of conducting examinations, but only for filling up of posts either by promotion or by recruitment, be it limited or public, the rationale of the judgments of the Supreme Court may not be applicable in their totality, as in arriving at their conclusions, the above judgments took into consideration various facts like the large number of candidates, the method and criteria of selection of examiners, existence of a fool-proof system with proper checks and balances etc. Therefore, in respect of these examinations, the disclosure of the answer sheets shall be the general rule 2 but each case may have to be examined individually to see as to whether disclosure of evaluated answer sheets would render the system unworkable in practice. If that be so, the disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets could be denied but not otherwise. However, while doing so the concerned authority should ensure that the name and identity of the examiner, supervisor or any other person associated with the process of examination is in no way disclosed so as to endanger the life or physical safety of such person. If it is not possible to do so in such cases, the authority concerned may decline the disclosure of the evaluated answer sheets u/s 8 (1) (g). 41. In some of the cases before us, it was argued that there is no question of revealing the identity of an examiner when it is a computer based examination and OMR sheets are issued as in such cases, the assessment is done by the computer. Although the use of this technique is resorted to only where there are large numbers of examinees appearing, the disclosure of evaluated answer sheets in such cases is unlikely to render the system unworkable and as such the evaluated answer sheets in such cases will be disclosed and made available under the Right to Information Act unless the providing of such answer sheets would involve an infringement of copyright as provided for under Section 9 of the Right to Information Act. The same analogy which is applicable in most examinations will mutatis mutandis apply in case of an examination conducted with optical marking system.

Emphasis now added for ease of reference

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XXXX 43. Before us are appeals in relation to examinations conducted by CBSE, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Jal Board, DDA and North Western Railways. Insofar as CBSE is concerned, we have held that denial of disclosure has been correctly done. In respect of the other public authorities, we are of the view that each public authority conducting examinations shall disclose the evaluated answer sheets to the applicants subject to the guidelines set forth in the preceding paragraphs. 3 The other cases are remanded back to the concerned Information Commissioner for issuing appropriate directions taking into consideration the broader principles laid down and indicated in the preceding paragraphs. In the present case we would categories the examinations conducted by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at the same level as those of Lok Sabha Secretariat, Jal Board, D.D.A. and Northern-Western Railways. At any rate even with regard to those examinations which we have held exempt from such disclosures, we have the decision of the High Court of Calcutta in which Shri Sanjib Banerjee J of the High Court in Writ Petition No. 22176 of 2007 (reported in AIR 2000 Calcutta 118.. This order has been relied upon by appellant Shri Kaushik in his 1st appeal, a plea that was rejected on 16.8.08, by the first appellate authority Shri AS Narang on the grounds that, PIO is a creature of the Statute and is bound by the rules. This Authority is also a creature of the Statute and is also bound by the same We have therefore examined this order by which the High Court of Calcutta has held as follows: xxxx 48. And then there is the Central Information Commissions judgment of April 23, 2004. In addressing a question, whether answer scripts should be furnished following a request to obtain information made under the said Act, the Commission framed two main questions. The first was as to whether the disclosure of evaluated answer scripts was exempted under Section 8(1)(e) of the said Act, and the second as to whether such disclosure was exempted under Section 8(1)(e) of the Act. Section 8(1)(e) exempts the disclosure of any information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information. Section 8(1)(e) exempts the disclosure of any information which would endanger the life
3

-ibid-

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or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes. 49.In dealing with such questions, the Commission noticed the argument made on behalf of the public authorities before it that an examining body is obliged to not disclose the identity of the examiners as such disclosure would be in breach of the fiduciary duty said to be owed by the examining body to the examiners. The connected argument was also noticed, that upon the identity of the examiners being revealed their lives and physical safety may be at risk. It is not necessary to go into the reasons as to why the Commission found that neither Section 8(1)(e) nor Section 8(1)(g) exempted disclosure of the evaluated answer scripts as the Commission held that only the disclosure as to the identity of the examiners was exempted. It is the argument as to the unworkability of the right to inspect answer scripts that ultimately weighed with the Commission. In the words of the Commission. it is matter of common knowledge that the parents and the students are never satisfied with their assessment. Every University and Board has a mechanism for re-evaluation which can be made use of by those who have genuine apprehensions about the fairness of the system. The disclosure, therefore, of the evaluated answer sheets may be taken recourse in rare cases but it cannot have an en-bono application, unless the University or the Board as the case may be introduces a system where the giving back of the evaluated answer sheets becomes or is made a regular practice, which this Commission hereby recommends. 50. The Commission thereafter noticed the Paritosh Bhupeshkumar Sheth case, a Constitution Bench judgment in Fateh Chand Himmatlal v. State of Maharashtra reported as (1977) 2 SCC 670: (AIR 1977 SC 1825) and the Suvankar case to conclude that the Supreme Court pronouncements negating an examinees right to demand disclosure and personal inspection of his answer script, were based on larger public interest which the Commission also found to be the basis of the said Act. The Commission thereafter proceeded to make a distinction between public examinations conducted by institutions established by the Constitution or by any enactment like the Union Public Service Commission or Universities or the Central Board of Secondary Education and examinations conducted by other public authorities whose principal function is not of conducting examinations but who hold examinations for filling up posts either by promotion or by recruitment. The 19

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commission held that for public authorities designed to conduct examinations, a citizen cannot seek disclosure of the evaluated answer script under the said Act. But for other public authorities incidentally conducting examinations, the disclosure of the answer sheets shall be the general rule but each case may have to be examined individually to see as to whether disclosure of evaluated answer sheets would render the system unworkable in practice. The Commission added a rider to the case of public authorities incidentally conducting examinations : the identity of the examiner, supervisor or other person associated with the process of examination should not be disclosed so as to endanger their lives or physical safety, and if it was not possible to make over the information without concealing the identities of the connected persons, the public authority could decline the disclosure of the evaluated answer scripts under Section 8(1)(g) of the said Act. In case of departmental examinees, the Commission took a view that disclosure of proceedings and disclosure of answer scripts, not only of the examinees but also of the other candidates, was necessary to bring in fairness and neutrality for the system to be more transparent and accountable. 51.In effect, the Commission discovered an exemption not expressly provided for in the statute to deny information despite accepting that the words used in the said Act could not be read to be a bar to the right asserted thereunder, But more on the Commissions opinion later. 52. In its long title the said Act proclaims to set about a personal regime of right to information for citizens. The preamble opens with a reference to the Constitution having established a democratic republic and the need, therefore, for an informed citizenry. The preamble reveals that the legislature was mindful of the likely conflict between revelation of information and efficient operation of the Governments: of optimum use of resources: and, most significantly, the need to preserve the paramount virtue of the democratic ideal: Whereas the Constitution of India has established Democratic Republic; And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the government; And whereas revelation of information in actual practice is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, 20

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optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information: And whereas it is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic ideal: Now, therefore, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens who desire to have it. 53. If it is the preamble that has to be looked into for the reason for, or the spirit of, the statute as a key to open the minds of the makers of the Act and the mischief they intended to redress, the makers appear to have been alive to the likely difficulties of the executive to live up to the Act. xxx 66. Right to information jure gentium has to be understood on the commissions opinion that is the evidence of what the law is, on the basis of how courts have interpreted the right under Article 19 of the Constitution. As the said Act is of rent vintage, the principle of contemporane exposition is not available for the opinion of the Central Information Commission, to the extent of its understanding that there is no express bar in the said Act to answer scripts being otherwise made available, to be relied upon. Yet such Commission is a body that deals with matters under the said Act and reads the words of the statute on a regular basis to direct or refuse the disclosure of information. The Commission answered the two questions directly raised on the provisions of the said Act against the public authorities and yet found the hardship factor call it inconvenience or unworkability which is not expressly included in the statue as a ground for exemption to be standing in the way of the answer scripts being made available to their authors. But though the examinees failed before the Central Information Commission there is a pious wish recorded in the order for their benefit recommending making over of answer scripts to examinees upon a regular procedure being set down in that regard. 67. On a plain reading of the right amplified under the aid Act the question that it ought to stimulate upon a request being received is not why, but why not. If information has to be supplied unless it is exempted the reason for refusal has to be found in Section 8 or not at all. 4

Emphasis ours

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68. Since three of the ten clauses of Section 8 (1) of the said Act have already been referred to the other seven may be seen. Clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 8 deals with information that would compromise the sovereignty or integrity of the country and like matter; clause (c ) covers such matters which would cause a breach of privilege of the Parliament or the State Legislatures; clause (d) protects information of commercial nature and trade secrets and their ilk; clause (f) prevents information being disseminated if it is received in confidence from any foreign government; clause (h) bars access to such information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; clause (i) forbids records and papers relating to deliberations of ministers and officers of the executive being made available, subject to a proviso and, clause (j) prohibits disclosure of personal information unless there is an element of public interest involved. The proviso at the foot of clause (j) appears to cover the entirety of section 8 (1) notwithstanding the view taken by the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court. The manner in which the exceptions to the rule have been carved out in section 8 and the proviso which appears to govern all the cases covered by Section 8 (1) of the said Act makes the exemption section exhaustive. 69. Construction of a statue on the grounds of hardship or inconvenience or in justice or absurdity or anomaly arises if the statute presents a choice. The said Act does not appear to present one. For the rule of mischief to come into play there have to be material words that are capable of bearing two or more constructions. The rule of purposive construction or the mischief rule as enunciated in the Heydon case has been accepted by the Supreme Court in the case of Bengal Immunity Co. Ltd. v. State of Bihar reported at 1955 (2) SCR 603; (AIR 1955 SC 661) 23 It is a sound rule of construction of a statue firmly established in England as for back as 1584 when Heydons case (3 Co. rep 7a; 76Er 637) was decided that for the sure and true interpretation of all statues in general (be they penal or beneficial, restrictive or enlarging of the common law) four things are to be discerned and considered: 1st What was the common law before the making of the Act, 2nd What was the mischief and defect for which the common law did not provide. 3rd What remedy the Parliament hath resolved and appointed to cure the disease of the Commonwealth., and 4th The true reason of the remedy; and then the office of all the Judges is always to make such construction as shall suppress the mischief and advance the remedy, and to suppress subtle inventions and 22

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evasions for continuance of the mischief and proprivato commodo, and to add force and life to the cure and remedy, according to the true intent of the makers of the Act pro bona publico. 70. Even if the Heydon questions were to arise in the present case the answers to them would not permit the disclosure of answer scripts being resisted. There is no discernible change of law attempted by the said Act. It has fuelled the burgeoning aspiration of a people for transparent governance. If there is any mischief that the said Act seeks to address. It is to make the right guaranteed by the Constitution more explicit. The remedy that the Parliament has prescribed is to cure the malaise of clandestine, cloak and dagger functioning of any public authority. The true reason of the remedy is to ensure a level playing field. 71. If then there is hardship in its implementation or in the fructification of the aspirations recognized therein it is not for the Court to rein in the desirable curiosity that the Act has unleashed but for other measures to be adopted to pave the way for its operation. If the Central Information Commission could have recognized the spirit of the Act to have recommended the return of answer scripts to examinees, that there is an immediate hardship or harsh consequence is of no relevance. 72. The Act provides a right to receive information and the consequence of the making over of such information is immaterial in the matter of construction of its provisions. As to whether an examinee would use the information received on inspection of his answer script to undo the finality of the process of examination is not an argument that can be considered to curb the operation of the state. The Act begins with a citizens right to obtain information and ends with the information being made available to him or his request being justly rejected on the grounds recognized by the Act what happens before and what may be the consequence of the information being made available or rightfully denied is a matter beyond the operation of the Act. 73. The Universitys first challenge (and it is, indeed the Universitys challenge as the onus is on the rejection being required to be justified) that what an examinee seeks in asking for inspection of his answer script is not information at all cannot be accepted. In the stricter sense if such answer script answers to the description of information. Whether such information is of the examinees creation counts for little. In the broader perspective, if a document submitted takes on any marking it becomes a new document. The Universitys offer of making the marks allotted to each individual question available to all candidates is fair and 23

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laudable but not if it comes with the rider that the answer scripts should then be exempted from being divulged. Notwithstanding the principle of severability contained in Section 10 of the said Act the answered paper with or without an examiners etchings thereon is not information exempted under any of the limbs of Section 8. 74. As a matter of principle, if answer scripts cannot be opened up for inspection it should hold good for all or even most cases. Since the said Act permits a request for third party information, subject to the consideration as to desirability in every case, a third party answer script may, theoretically be sought and obtained. The Universitys first argument would then not hold good for a third party answer script would be information beyond the knowledge of its seeker. 75. There is an understandable attempt on the Universitys part to not so much as protect the self and property of the examiner, but to keep the examiners identity concealed. The argument made on behalf of the public authorities before the Central Information Commission has, thankfully, not been put forward in this case. This University has not cited the fiduciary duty that it may owe to its examiners or the need to keep answer scripts out of bounds for examinees so that the examiners are not threatened. A ground founded on apprehended lawlessness may not stultify the natural operation of a statue, but in the Universitys eagerness here to no divulge the identity of its examiners there is a desirable and worthy motive- to ensure impartiality in the process. But a procedure may be evolved such that the identity of the examiner is not apparent on the face of the evaluated answer script. The severability could be applied by the coversheet that is left blank by an examinee or later attached by the University to be detached from the answer script made over to the examinee following a request under section 6 of the Act. It will require an effort on the public authoritys part and for a system to be put in place but the lack of effort or the failure in any workable system being devised will not tell upon the impact of the wide words of the Act or its ubiquitous operation. 76. Whether or not an examiner puts his pen to the answer script that he proceeds to evaluate would not rob the answer script of retaining its virtue as information within the meaning of the said Act even if it is made available for inspection in the same form as it was received from the examinee. The etchings on an answer script may be additional information for a seeker but the answer script all along remains a document liable to be sought and obtained following a request under section 6 of the Act. That the etchings may be pointless or that they may be arbitrary or 24

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whimsical in the absence of any guidelines, makes little difference. 77. Education is more than just reading prescribed texts and taking examinations in a given format, it is more than a garnering of degrees, certificates and diplomas. Any real education requires the amassing of knowledge that may or may not be in the prescription for an examination. An educated human being may also strive to create a new body of knowledge that is outside the purview of prescriptions. There can be no education if limits are imposed on the amount and type of knowledge an individual may gather or create. A democracy can only be functional in all its aspects extents and senses when there is an informed citizenry. 78. The right to information is the most basic empowerment of the individual- the right of an individual to the source of any knowledge required for him to educate him self in any are he may choose. 79. An examining authority may not tell a student that he must learn how to answer questions in the format the examining authority desires, yet leave the examinee uninformed of the manner of evaluation. The examining authority cannot be exacting in its demand for transparency and clarity in answers to its questions, and yet remain in scriptable and veiled in its methods of evaluation. An examining authority has every right to judge the students knowledge and expression of that knowledge, but it cannot take away the examinees right to know the methodology of and the criteria for its evaluation. But again this is straying into the zone of the consequence of information of the subject kind being made available. XXXX 81. If inspection of answer scripts is denied to the examinee, the spirit of the Constitutional right to expression and information may be lost 5 . The knowledge builders the Universitys bid to perpetuate the draconian, elitist, one sided right to know and judge and rule without being open to question or accountable to the examinee cannot be encouraged. For a system to foster meaningful proliferation of knowledge it must itself be crystal clear to this core. 82. In the Universitys zeal to limit the scope of the request for information under the said At, one may get a whiff of its inertia; its innate resistance to change, almost a sublime refusal to perceive or acknowledge how all around it has
5

Emphasis added

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moved along. History and tradition may be cherished and preserved. But evolution cannot be impeded as it is a means for survival. If there is no infrastructure to receive the change, the need to change cannot be negated, it is possible that public authorities as the university do not desire accountability as it is a demanding taskmaster and it is difficult to shrug off old habits. It is equally likely that while public examining bodies make an ostensible show of concern for the examiners, there is a realization that a more open scrutiny of evaluated answer script will require more care and caution than the low remuneration- and that is a notorious fact- to examiners can command. 83. Access to answer scripts may have the desirable side effect of ensuring that there is no loss of any of the papers. It is not unknown for answer scripts of Board and other examinations to have been found in dishonourable places that they should never have reached, and the awareness, that there may potentially be a request for furnishing every answer script may result in its better preservation. In a sense, he despair that has driver many a student to take his life in recent times may be addressed if students have access to their evaluated answer scripts. 84. The Universitys final shield is, formally, the Court. It seeks to tuck the answer scripts behind the apparently insurmountable wall of Supreme Court judgments. Apart from the fact that Section 8 (1) (b) of the said Act has to be read in the light of the overriding effect of the said Act sanctioned under Section 22, the argument on such score is as much a show of desperation as the floodgate theory. 85. There are two parts to Section 8(1) (b) of the Act: information that has been expressly forbidden to be published by any Court of Law or Tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of Court. It is a disjunctive or after the word tribunal. It is trite that an act may not be expressly forbidden by a Court and yet its commission would amount to contempt of Court. In the first limb of the clause, the expression expressly forbidden operates on the word information. It necessarily implies that, that which is sought by way of a request has to be a matter that is expressly forbidden to be made available. The judicial embargo has to be explicit and a general observation may not be cited as a bar. An express prohibition has to be more specific than what the University brings by way of Supreme Court judgments, even if its best arguable case is taken. It does not appear that the University here has stressed much on the second arm of the clause. Even the latest Ayan Das case has not altogether forbidden answer scripts being offered for inspection by a Court to an examinee. The Suvankar case spoke of the ills of court sanction 26

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interventions in the process of evaluation that may rob it of its timely finality. The Suvankar case deals with the consequence of information being furnished and cannot be seen as an impediment to the information in the form of answer scripts being made available. It is a matter that comes into play, as noticed above, in the zone beyond where the said Act operates. 86. The Supreme Courts reference in the Paritosh Bhupeshkumar Sheth case to the audi alteram partelm rule not operating in the twilight zone of expectations has to be read in the background of the immediate lis and the more general rule that was laid down. The challenge in that case was to two clauses of one of the regulations of the Secondary and Higher Secondary Council that barred reassessment and prohibited inspection of answ4erscripts. The restrictions were found to be reasonable. The matter was not considered in the light of the enactment which is the subject matter of the present proceedings, even if it is accepted that the said Act only elucidates on the right originally guaranteed by the Constitution. There is no evil in a right born in the Constitution being enlarged by subsequent legislation nor any doubt as to the legislative competence to do so. If the right already existed under the Constitution, Parliament may widen its sweep and operation. A privilege granted under Part III of the Constitution can be legitimately magnified in keeping with the Constitutional vision in Part IV, abreast with the changing times when the said Acts avowed purpose is to bring about transparency and curb corruption. 87. Judicial discipline demands deference to precedents not only of the hierarchical superior but also of a forum of coordinate jurisdiction but it does not command a fawning obeisance in the deification of any precedent. As society progresses and aspirations rise, it shakes off the shackles that it invented in its infancy or adolescence. Marvels of yesterday become relics of today. If the Central Information Commission can rightfully aspire for a day when answer scripts would accompany the mark sheets, that there is no facility therefore today would not lead to the natural words and import of the said Act to be constricted by any concern for the immediate hardship and inconvenience. The umbra of exemptions must be kept confined to the specific provisions in that regard and no penumbra of a further body of exceptions may be conjured up by any strained devise of construction. In a constitutional democracy, every limb and digit of governance is ultimately answerable to the government. 6
6

Emphasis added

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We had already in our interim order of 7.11.08 conveyed the decision of the High Court of Delhi in reviewing the application of rule 5 (c) of the Delhi High Court Right to Information Rules 2006.the Decision of the High Court of Calcutta read together with the instructions of the High Court of Delhi and the Decision in Full Bench of this Commission, leads to the inevitable conclusion that in this case, the answer scripts are disclosable to the author. The Registrar High Court of Punjab & Haryana is now directed to provide the information sought to appellant Shri Keshav Kaushik within ten working days of the date of issue of this decision notice including questions 6 & 7 already agreed to. It is also

recommended to the High Court of Punjab & Haryana u/s 19(8) (a) that they may consider a similar review as that undertaken by the High Court of Delhi of its rule 5, of rule 4 of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana (Right to Information) Rules, 2007

The appeal is thus allowed. There will be no costs. Reserved in the hearing, this decision was announced in open chamber on 21.11.2008. Notice of this decision be given free of cost to the parties.

(Wajahat Habibullah) Chief Information Commissioner 21.11.2008 Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application and payment of the charges, prescribed under the Act, to the CPIO of this Commission.

(Pankaj Shreyaskar) Joint Registrar 21.11.2008

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