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TMI Blog2012 (12) TMI 790X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the said respondent No.2 sought the following information: "a. The persons those who are appointed/selected through a reservation category, their names, when they have appointed on the said post. b. When they have joined the said post. c. The report of the Caste Verification Committee of the persons those who are/were selected from the reserved category. d. The persons whose caste certificate is/was forwarded for the verification to the caste verification committee after due date. Whether any action is taken against those persons? If any action is taken, then the detail information should be given within 30 days." 5. The appellant, at the relevant time, was working as Superintendent in the State Excise Department and was designated as the Public Information Officer. Thus, he was discharging the functions required under the provisions of the Act. After receiving the application from Respondent No.2, the appellant forwarded the application to the concerned Department for collecting the information. Vide letter dated 19th January, 2007, the appellant had informed respondent No.2 that action on his application has been taken and the information asked for has been cal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce of the State Excise at Nanded. The Nanded office informed the appellant of the notice and that the hearing was kept for 26th February, 2008 before the State Information Commission at Aurangabad. This was informed to the appellant vide letter dated 12th February, 2008. On 25th February, 2008, the applicant forwarded an application through fax to the office of the State Information Commissioner bringing to their notice that for official reasons he was unable to appear before the Commissioner on that date and requested for grant of extension of time for that purpose. Relevant part of the letter dated 25th February 2008 reads as under: "...hearing is fixed before the Hon'ble Minister, State Excise M.S.Mumbai in respect of licence of CL-3 of Shivani Tq. and Dist. Akola. For that purpose it is necessary for the Superintendent, State Excise, Akola for the said hearing. Therefore, it is not possible for him to remain present for hearing on 26.2.2008 before the Hon'ble Commissioner, State Information Commission, Aurangabad. Therefore, it is requested that next date be given for the said hearing." 8. The State Information Commission, without considering the application and even the requ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ication. It is necessary for all the applicant those who want the information under the said Act, he should fill up the form properly and it is confirmed that, whether he has given detail information while submitting the application as per the proforma and this would be confirm while making the application, otherwise the Public Information Officer will not in position to give expected information to the applicant. At the time of filing the application, it is necessary for the applicant, to fill-up the form properly and it was the prime duty of the applicant. As per the above mentioned, the second appeal filed by the applicant is hereby decided as follows: ORDER 1. The appeal is decided. 2. As the concern Public Information Officer has shown his negligence while performing his duty, therefore, the Commissioner of State Excise, State of Maharashtra has to take appropriate action as per the service rules within two months from the date of order and thereafter, within one month they should submit their compliance report to the State Commission." 9. The legality and correctness of the above order was challenged by the appellant before the High Court by f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... denied the request for information or knowingly given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information, it shall impose a penalty of two hundred and fifty rupees each day till application is received or information is furnished, so however, the total amount of such penalty shall not exceed twenty-five thousand rupees: Provided that the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before any penalty is imposed on him: Provided further that the burden of proving that he acted reasonably and diligently shall be on the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be. (2) Where the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be, at the time of deciding any complaint or appeal is of the opinion that the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, has without any reasonable cause and persistently, failed to receive an applicatio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ording of reasoned decision are the basic elements of natural justice. It is not expected of the Commission to breach any of these principles, particularly when its orders are open to judicial review. Much less to Tribunals or such Commissions, the Courts have even made compliance to the principle of rule of natural justice obligatory in the class of administrative matters as well. In the case of A.K. Kraipak & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. [(1969) 2 SCC 262], the Court held as under : "17. ... It is not necessary to examine those decisions as there is a great deal of fresh thinking on the subject. The horizon of natural justice is constantly expanding... The aim of the rules of natural justice is to secure justice or to put it negatively to prevent miscarriage of justice. These rules can operate only in areas not covered by any law validly made. In other words they do not supplant the law of the land but supplement it.... The concept of natural justice has undergone a great deal of change in recent years. In the past it was thought that it included just two rules namely: (1) no one shall be a judge in his own case (Nemo debet esse judex propria causa) and (2) no de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons, if such decisions affect anyone prejudicially. (b) A quasi-judicial authority must record reasons in support of its conclusions. (c) Insistence on recording of reasons is meant to serve the wider principle of justice that justice must not only be done it must also appear to be done as well. (d) Recording of reasons also operates as a valid restraint on any possible arbitrary exercise of judicial and quasi- judicial or even administrative power. (e) Reasons reassure that discretion has been exercised by the decision-maker on relevant grounds and by disregarding extraneous considerations. (f) Reasons have virtually become as indispensable a component of a decision-making process as observing principles of natural justice by judicial, quasi-judicial and even by administrative bodies. (g) Reasons facilitate the process of judicial review by superior courts. (h) The ongoing judicial trend in all countries committed to rule of law and constitutional governance is in favour of reasoned decisions based on relevant facts. This is virtually the lifeblood of judicial decision-making justifying the principle that reason is the soul of justi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cial creativity blights penumbral areas, it is also for improving the quality of Government in injecting fair play into its wheels. Reference in this regard can be made to Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner [(1978) 1 SCC 405]. 20. Referring to the requirement of adherence to principles of natural justice in adjudicatory process, this Court in the case of Namit Sharma v. Union of India [2012 (8) SCALE 593], held as under: "97. It is not only appropriate but is a solemn duty of every adjudicatory body, including the tribunals, to state the reasons in support of its decisions. Reasoning is the soul of a judgment and embodies one of the three pillars on which the very foundation of natural justice jurisprudence rests. It is informative to the claimant of the basis for rejection of his claim, as well as provides the grounds for challenging the order before the higher authority/constitutional court. The reasons, therefore, enable the authorities, before whom an order is challenged, to test the veracity and correctness of the impugned order. In the present times, since the fine line of distinction between the functioning of the administrative and quasi-judi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ain Singh Malpharia v. Additional Member, Board of Revenue, Bihar [AIR 1963 SC 786], the Court stressed upon compliance with the principles of natural justice in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings. Absence of such specific requirement would invalidate the order. The Court, reiterating the principles stated in the English Law in the case of King v. Electricity Commissioner, held as under : "The following classic test laid down by Lord Justice Atkin, as he then was, in King v. Electricity Commissioners and followed by this Court in more than one decision clearly brings out the meaning of the concept of judicial act: "Wherever anybody of persons having legal authority to determine questions affecting the rights of subjects, and having the duty to act judicially, act in excess of their legal authority they are subject to the controlling jurisdiction of the King's Bench Division exercised in these writs." Lord Justice Slesser in King v. London County Council dissected the concept of judicial act laid down by Atkin, L.J., into the following heads in his judgment: "Wherever any body of persons (1) having legal authority (2) to determine questions affecting righ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aring. The State Information Commission not only recommended but directed initiation of departmental proceedings against the appellant and even asked for the compliance report. If such a harsh order was to be passed against the appellant, the least that was expected of the Commission was to grant him a hearing/reasonable opportunity to put forward his case. We are of the considered view that the State Information Commission should have granted an adjournment and heard the appellant before passing an order Section under 20(2) of the Act. On that ground itself, the impugned order is liable to be set aside. It may be usefully noticed at this stage that the appellant had a genuine case to explain before the State Information Commission and to establish that his case did not call for any action within the provisions of Section 20(2). Now, we would deal with the other contention on behalf of the appellant that the order itself does not satisfy the requirements of Section 20(2) and, thus, is unsustainable in law. For this purpose, it is necessary for the Court to analyse the requirement and scope of Section 20(2) of the Act. Section 20(2) empowers a Central Information Commission or the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... question of recommending disciplinary action under Section 20(2) may not arise. Still, there may be another situation that upon perusing the records of the appeal or the complaint, the Commission may be of the opinion that none of the defaults contemplated under Section 20(2) is satisfied and, therefore, no action is called for. To put it simply, the Central or the State Commission have no jurisdiction to add to the exhaustive grounds of default mentioned in the provisions of Section 20(2). The case of default must strictly fall within the specified grounds of the provisions of Section 20(2). This provision has to be construed and applied strictly. Its ambit cannot be permitted to be enlarged at the whims of the Commission. 27. Now, let us examine if any one or more of the stated grounds under Section 20(2) were satisfied in the present case which would justify the recommendation by the Commission of taking disciplinary action against the appellant. The appellant had received the application from respondent No.2 requiring the information sought for on 3rd January, 2007. He had, much within the period of 30 days (specified under Section 7), sent the application to the conce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was negligence while performing duties. If one examines the provisions of Section 20(2) in their entirety then it becomes obvious that every default on the part of the concerned officer may not result in issuance of a recommendation for disciplinary action. The case must fall in any of the specified defaults and reasoned finding has to be recorded by the Commission while making such recommendations. 'Negligence' per se is not a ground on which proceedings under Section 20(2) of the Act can be invoked. The Commission must return a finding that such negligence, delay or default is persistent and without reasonable cause. In our considered view, the Commission, in the present case, has erred in not recording such definite finding. The appellant herein had not failed to receive any application, had not failed to act within the period of 30 days (as he had written a letter calling for information), had not malafidely denied the request for information, had not furnished any incorrect or misleading information, had not destroyed any information and had not obstructed the furnishing of the information. On the contrary, he had taken steps to facilitate the providing of information by writ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e the application was not responded to within 30 days. Every case has to be examined on its own facts. We would hasten to add here that wherever reasonable cause is not shown to the satisfaction of the Commission and the Commission is of the opinion that there is default in terms of the Section it must send the recommendation for disciplinary action in accordance with law to the concerned authority. In such circumstances, it will have no choice but to send recommendatory report. The burden of forming an opinion in accordance with the provisions of Section 20(2) and principles of natural justice lies upon the Commission. 31. We are of the considered opinion that the appellant had shown that the default, if any on his part, was not without reasonable cause or result of a persistent default on his part. On the contrary, he had taken steps within his power and authority to provide information to respondent No.2. It was for the department concerned to react and provide the information asked for. In the present case, some default itself is attributable to respondent No.2 who did not even care to respond to the letter of the department dated 11th April, 2007. The cumulative effect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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