Ketan Kantilal Modi v. Central Board of Excise & Customs
[2009] CIC 11455
In the Central Information Commission
Appeal CIC/AT/A/2008/01280
Before Mr Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner
Decided on September 22, 2009

Relevancy of the case: Transferring an RTI application to a subordinate office of the public authority through email

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 4)
• The Right to Information Act, 2005 (Section 6(1) and 6(3))

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The appellant filed an RTI application inquiring about a corruption case among licensed Bulk Mail Handlers/Outsourcing Agents to provide bulk mail handling service to their respective clients.
• However, he did not receive any response. Hence, he appellant filed his second appeal before the Information Commissioner.
• The Commissioner directed the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) to provide the appellant with email IDs of the CPIOs of all public authorities as they have the requested information.
• Moreover, the Commissioner stated that a larger bench should decide the scope of transferring petitions to an appropriate authority under Section 6(1) and 6(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The appellant requested the Commission to give detailed attention to Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 because it gives legal recognition to electronic records.
• Further, he contended that the Commissioner made an error in the judgment by not referring to this provision while giving the decision.

Opinion of the Bench

• The CPIO of the public authority can instantly and inexpensively transfer the application under Section 6(1) to its subordinate offices. This process simply involves sending an email.
• Therefore, CBEC should transfer the appellant’s RTI application electronically to the subordinate offices.
• In addition, the appellant cannot use words like malafide intention of CPIO or the Commissioner for taking a reasonable stand as per the RTI Act.

Final Decision

• The bench disposed of this matter. Also, they passed directions to transfer the RTI application to subordinate offices via email.