Dear Lokesh You asked " > > The big question is …... > Can officials of CIC refuse to register an appeal submitted by an appellant > under 'central information commissions (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005', > received by commission through E-mail with all relevant scanned documents > duly attached with the mail ? > Well they have done it." >
The answer is that the CIC has correctly refused to accept appeals sent by email. The "content of appeal" requirement in the Appeal Procedure Rules is for the appeal to be "verified". As per legal procedure, during verification the appellant has to depose and "sign" the verification. The Information Technology Act has brought in the concept of "digital signatures" and "electronic signatures" which are assigned / registered on application (and payment of fees) unique to the applicant. There is a legal presumption that the digital signature if affixed belongs to the sender and is equivalent to a physical signature..Only if you are a digital signature holder (necessarily obtained from an Indian registrar) are you allowed to file appeals electronically. The CIC's online appeal procedure does not comply with the legal requirements of "verification" / signature. Neither does it have the facility for affixing the court fee of Rs.1 on the appeal document as is required in law. If you wish to raise another issue, close to your heart, about how NRIs Indians abroad can access RTI and file appeals etc via email / electronically, I have some very interesting opinions for you. Sarbajit On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 6:17 PM, lokesh batra <[email protected]>wrote: > > > 23 June 2010 > > CIC Babus : Appeal by Email not accepted > Please note that a scroll is running on CIC website cic.gov.in stating : > “The commission in its meeting dated 3.3.09 has decided that the Appeal / > Complaint received through e-mail cannot be registered unless filed online > or otherwise.” > > Remember after HC ruling only the 'Central Information Commissions (Appeal > Procedure) Rules, 2005', framed by Government of India are valid. > These valid (Appeal Procedure) Rules 2005 do not lay down such condition. > Hence the above content of Scroll should have been removed after HC > verdict. > > The big question is …... > Can officials of CIC refuse to register an appeal submitted by an appellant > under 'central information commissions (Appeal Procedure) Rules, 2005', > received by commission through E-mail with all relevant scanned documents > duly attached with the mail ? > Well they have done it. > > On 08 Jun and 10 June 2010 respectively, I sent two separate 2nd appeals by > E-mails in respect of my RTIs of SC. In each case, all documents duly > scanned were attached (pdf files). Copies were also endorsed to CPIO and FAA > of Hon'ble Supreme Court. (On request, I can forward my above two mails) > > Immediately on receipt of my mail Shri Pakaj Shreyaskar, Dy. Secretary & > Jt. Registrar of CIC wrote back: > “Dear Sri Batra > You are hereby advised to kindly file the appeal petition either online or > through the post. As per the MOM of the Commission dated 3 3 09 (scroll is > made to run on cic.gov.in) i am afraid it will not be registered.” > > RECAP (HC Verdict) > Immediately after the Hon'ble Delhi High Court verdict expunging CIC > (Management) Regulation, 2007; these regulation were found removed from CICt > website. > These expunged Regulation had also included 'Appeal Procedures' those were > in variance procedures promulgated by Government of India and HC had made > strong observations on it. > Full verdict of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court verdict of 21 May 210 can be > perused on following link: > http://lobis.nic.in/dhc/BDA/judgement/21-05-2010/BDA21052010CW127142009.pdf > It may be seen that Para 32 of the Delhi HC verdict talks about powers of > framing rules for Appeal Procedures for 'Central Information Commission' > which are vested with Appropriate Government in this case the Government of > India. > To demonstrate variance, the Delhi HC in its verdict (under para 32) has > shown a comparative table. “Comparison between the Central Information > Commission (Appeal) Rules 2005 and the Impugned Central Information > Commission (Management) Regulations 2007” > Thus after HC ruling only the 'Central Information Commissions (Appeal > Procedure) Rules, 2005', framed by Government of India are valid. These can > be read on link below: > > http://persmin.gov.in/WriteData/CircularNotification/ScanDocument/RTI/appealrules.pdf > Back to Issue: > > The scroll running on cic.gov.in also states : > “CIC Online”, the portal for submitting the Second Appeals and Complaints > with CIC has been awarded with “Platinum Icon Award” of the Web Ratna 2009 > (Award of Excellence)” > The link for filing Appeal Online is: > http://rti.india.gov.in/rti_second_appeal_lodging.php > > A tabular, comparative study show that the contents of Appeal of 'Central > Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) Rules 2005' and the contents of > 'Online' are in variation and in many ways Online filing is difficult to > use. > Constrains of filing Appeal Online (my experience) > (a) Only options (Choices) available in drop down boxes. One has no choice > but to accept one of these. > (b) There is no place to give narrative 'Brief facts leading to the > appeal;' . (A requirement of 'Appeal Rules'). > (c) There is no place to give 'Any other information which the Commission > may deem necessary for deciding the appeal.' (A requirement of 'Appeal > Rules'). > (d) Cannot include special characters, and at places numbers and alphabets. > Online system rejects it. > (e) No provision for attaching Word Document files. Only pdf, JPG and GIF > files with 2 MB limit. That too have limitations if file name contains > special characters etc. > (f) In case all documents are scanned in one pdf file, the same will need > to be attached again and again under different heads. > Last but not the least, even if appellant manages to send appeal Online > within the limitations, > Commission wants hard copy of appeal by post too. > A comparative study shows differences. Please see table at the end of this > mail. > Food for thought, if commission should withdraw the scroll saying appeals > sent by email will be rejected. > Yours views are requested. > Commodore Lokesh. K. Batra (Retd.) > Social & RTI Activist > BringChange > www.bringchange.org > > Comparison between the Contents of : > Appeal prescribed in Central Information Commission (Appeal Procedure) > Rules 2005 And Filing of Appeal 'Online' > can be downloaded from http://www.box.net/shared/p01hmpt60y > >
