Saadat Ahmad Qadri v/s Chief Engineer EM&RE Kmr. Present: 1. Syed Mohammad Nayeem, PIO.

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1 File No. SIC/K/SA/41/2014 Decision No. SIC/K/SA/41/2014/145 Title: Saadat Ahmad Qadri v/s Chief Engineer EM&RE Kmr. Present: 1. Syed Mohammad Nayeem, PIO. Srinagar Brief facts of this case are that Shri Saadat Ahmad Qadri of M/s Saadat Enterprises, Solina Silk Factory Road, Srinagar has sought information under Section 6(1) of J&K RTI Act, 2009 on from PIO Office of the Chief Engineer, EM&RE Kashmir briefly as under: - 1. Breakup of funds released Division-wise during , and indicating Head of account under which the funds stand released. 2. Funds released to each divisions and corresponding expenditure booked. 3. Cost of material purchased out of expended amounts referred to 1 & 2 above from various private agencies/firms/contractors/supplier other than Govt. stores/departments/pses. 4. Details of purchase orders pertaining to query Details of each one of turn/key jobs allotted/executed during above fiscals under each of the Heads of Account, including deposit

2 contribution, CDF MPLAD, Centrally Sponsored Schemes, District Development Schemes etc. 6. Reference of relevant rules in pursuance of which an amount of Rs. 2200/- was asked to be deposited on account of Photostate copies of only 8 pages of the provided information. Thereafter appeal has been filed before FAA/Chief Engineer EM&RE Kashmir on on the grounds of no response given by PIO within 30 days from the date of submission of application in Form-1. The appellant filed Second Appeal before the Commission on stating that PIO did not respond his RTI application and consequently he filed First Appeal before FAA on and FAA was bound to take necessary action by ; but FAA failed to respond till (i.e. 10 days beyond last day mandated in terms of the Act). The appellant further submitted that in between, the PIO sent a letter dated exactly 23 days beyond the last due date the PIO was bound to provide the information sought and the belated information covers only first two points of the RTI application. The Second Appeal has been filed on the grounds that no information has been provided against 4 points i.e. point 3, 4, 5, & 6 of the RTI application by the PIO without assigning any reason, except that against item 3 an unlimited time is covertly sought in the second paragraph of the response stating that cost of material procured out of the released funds is to be obtained from the concerned Divisions and the same shall be informed accordingly. The appellant has therefore prayed before the Commission that necessary action in the matter may be initiated against PIO/FAA under relevant provisions of the Act so that the logical and legal

3 ends are met in dispensing justice to the information seeker as guaranteed by the Act. In his reply/counter statement dated PIO submitted that information sought by the information seeker was sought from the subordinate divisions and major portion of information except Points No. (iii), (iv) and (v) received from divisions was provided to the information seeker vide letter dated PIO further submitted that subordinate divisions were directed to provide requisite information directly to the information seeker vide letter/communications as under: - 1. No. CE/M&RE/Plg/ dated No. CE/M&RE/Plg/ dated No. CE/M&RE/Plg/ dated No. CE/M&RE/Plg/ dated No. CE/M&RE/Plg/ dated During proceedings in the Commission on following directions were issued: - Chief Engineer EM&RE Kashmir shall direct concerned Executive Engineers to communicate response/information as per records to the information seeker in respect of points iii, iv & v of RTI application and PIO O/o Chief Engineer is directed to respond to Point No. vi within two weeks. Meanwhile Commission received communication from information seeker addressed to Chief Engineer in reference to PIOs letter dated stating as under: - Apropos your communication cited on the subject mentioned above, we convey our word of trust to you and are satisfied with your stated position.

4 In compliance to the directions of the Commission conveyed on , Chief Engineer, EM&RE Wing Kashmir vide his reply dated submitted that implementation of section 4(1)(b) is already in vogue with the Department and the relevant information is available on our departmental/wing s (M&RE) website. With regard to non-appearance, Chief Engineer submitted that on an electrical accident took place at Magam where some law and order problem had taken place which was to be attended on priority and as such he could not attend the Commission and directed PIO to attend on the scheduled date. 11 page information sent to the information seeker has been enclosed. Upon perusal of records, it is seen that the RTI application filed on has been responded to by the PIO on by providing details of release of funds under Major Head: 2801-Power, Minor Heads and Detailed Head: Maintenance and Repairs alongwith details of funds released during , and with corresponding expenditure booked thereof. He further informed the information seeker that cost of material procured out of the released funds is to be obtained from the concerned Divisions and same shall be informed accordingly. Correspondences made to Divisions were produced before the Commission. It is also evident that some of the information has been obtained from Chief Accounts on and therefore RTI application involves transfer period of 5 days. Therefore PIO has responded to within prescribed period. Chief Engineer in his counter reply dated submitted that information has been provided directly by Executive Engineer Budgam to the information seeker. However, the same is awaited from the Divisions, who are being directed to provide the same to the information seeker directly.

5 In so far as First Appeal filed before the FAA/Chief Engineer EM&RE Kashmir is concerned, the appeal has been filed on and as per Section 16(7) of the Act, FAA/Chief Engineer was duty bound to decide the Appeal within a period of 30 days and in any case not beyond a period of 45 days (i.e. by ) for recorded reasons. As per evidence brought before the Commission FAA has not disposed of the appeal filed before him and therefore he has failed to discharge duties cast upon him under J&K RTI Act, Chief Engineer was asked to explain his position in this regard vide notice of the Commission dated , however, FAA/Chief Engineer has not given his explanation for his failure to decide the First Appeal. Therefore Mr. Bashir Ahmad Khan FAA/Chief Engineer EM&RE is directed to explain as to why action under J&K RTI Act, 2009 should not be taken against him for not deciding First Appeal. His explanation should reach within 2 weeks. With regard to implementation of Section 4(1)(b), Chief Engineer informed the Commission vide reply dated that implementation of Section 4(1)(b) is already in vogue in their Department and the relevant information is available on website However, the website/s of the Department was visited in presence of the PIO (Technical Officer to Chief Engineer) and it was noted that there is no link/information related to Section 4(1)(b) of J&K RTI Act, 2009 available on said website. In view of above Registrar SIC is directed to issue show case notice by name to Chief Engineer EM&RE Wing Kashmir to attend the Commission alongwith with evidence with regard to implementation of Section 4(1)(b) as admitted by him in his reply dated but no such information was found on the website.

6 Registry is directed to mark copy of the order to Principal Secretary to Government, Power Development Department. Sd/- (Nazir Ahmed) State Information Commissioner Copy to the: - 1. Principal Secretary to Government, Power Development Department, Civil Secretariat, Jammu. 2. Chief Engineer EM&RE Kashmir. 3. PIO Office of the Chief Engineer EM&RE Kashmir. 4. Shri Saadat Ahmad Qadri of M/s Saadat Enterprises, Solina Silk Factory Road, Srinagar. (M.S. Bhat) Deputy Registrar, State Information Commission