Filing second appeal with a different public authority

The Appellant filed an RTI application with PACL Nodal Officer and Secretary, Judge (Retd) R.M. Lotha Committee seeking certain information. Having not received any response from the CPIO, the Appellant filed a First Appeal with the FAA, SEBI. Aggrieved with the non-receipt of response, the Appellant filed a second appeal with the CIC. The Appellant submitted that he is only conversant with Tamil language and submitted that he has not received any information in the matter. SEBI submitted that it did not receive the RTI Application under reference and only the First Appeal addressed to SEBI was received. Since the RTI Application with reference to which the First Appeal was filed was never received by SEBI, the First Appeal was treated as a fresh RTI Application. For the want of proper RTI fees, the Appellant was informed that SEBI can accept RTI Application accompanied with RTI fees through prescribed mode and he was also advised that he can also file a fresh RTI Application. The CIC observed that the Appellant has filed the First Appeal before the FAA, SEBI without even filing any RTI Application with SEBI. The Registry has also erroneously arrayed SEBI as a Respondent in the matter, therefore, the role of SEBI is dispensed with. The appeal was rendered as not maintainable.

Comments

An applicant must file the RTI application and appeal with the same public authority. In case the application has been transferred under section 6(3) of the RTI Act, then the appeal is liable to be filed with the FAA of the public authority to whom the RTI application has been transferred.

Citation: M. Shanmugam v. Pearls Agrotech Corporation Ltd. and SEBI, CIC/SEBIH/A/2022/133634; Date of Decision: 14.03.2024