This Complaint coming up before us for hearing on   03-11-11 in the presence of complainant and of Sri K. Raja Rao, advocate for opposite parties, upon perusing the material on record after hearing both sides and having stood over till this day for consideration this Forum made the following:-

O R D E R

Per Sri A. Hazarath Rao,  President:-

          The complainant filed this complaint under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act seeking a direction to the opposite party to furnish information without collecting any fees and Rs.5,000/- towards mental agony besides costs.

1. The averments of the complaint in brief are hereunder:

          The complainant on 08-03-11 sought information from the Regional Director, Municipal administration and paid fee of Rs.10/-.    The Regional Director, Municipal Administration forwarded the same to the                   1^st opposite party for furnishing information.   The 1^st opposite party by its letter dated 28-03-11 required the complainant to pay Rs.10,254/- for furnishing the information.   But the complainant received the said letter on 25-04-11.   The 1^st opposite party has to furnish information on or before                    09-04-11 as per section 7(6) of RTI Act.   As he received such information at a belated stage the complainant need not pay any amount for seeking information.   The complainant appealed to the 2^nd opposite party who in turn rejected the contention of the complainant for furnishing free copies.    The complainant suffered mental agony on account of the attitude of the opposite parties and estimated it at Rs.5,000/-.   The complaint therefore be allowed.

3.      The contention of the opposite party in nutshell is hereunder:

          The complainant has no right to file this type of complaint before this Forum.   The complaint is bad for want of notice under section 685 of HMC Act.      The Regional Joint Director/Appellate Authority, MA and UD Department, Guntur on 21-03-11 forwarded the representation of the complainant to the Commissioner, Guntur Municipal Corporation to furnish the information related to the subjects of the Guntur Municipal Corporation.    The Municipal Corporation, Guntur required the applicant to pay Rs.10,254/- and addressed a letter and handed over to the postal agent on 02-04-11.   The cover bearing No.EN921158763 was delivered to the complainant on                   25-04-11.    The opposite parties are not responsible for the delay caused in delivering the cover sent by the Corporation and also for compensation.   The complaint therefore be dismissed.

4.   Exs.A-1 to A-6 on behalf of the complainant and Exs.B-1 to B-8 on behalf of opposite parties were marked respectively.

5.     Now the points that arose for consideration in this complaint are:

1. Whether the opposite parties committed deficiency of service?
2. Whether the complainant is entitled to claim compensation?
3. To what relief?

6.   Admitted facts in this case are these:

1. The complainant on 08-03-11 sought information from the Public       Information           Officer/Regional Director and Appellate        Commissioner, Municipal           Administration, Guntur

     (Ex.A-1=Ex.B-2).

          2.   The complainant paid Rs.10/- as fees by way of Indian Postal                          Order (Ex.A-2).

          3.   The Regional Director cum Appellate Commissioner, Municipal                          Administration, Guntur made an endorsement on 29-03-11 to                     Guntur Municipal Corporation to furnish information in respect of                   items mentioned in paras 3 to 5 (Ex.A-5(a) =  Ex.B-1).

          4.    The 1^st opposite party on 28-03-11 required the complainant to                     pay Rs.10,254/- @Rs.2/- per page for 5,127 pages

                   (Ex.A-4=Ex.B-3).

          5.  The complainant appealed to the 2^nd opposite party on                                      (Ex.A-5=Ex.B-4).

          6.   The 2^nd opposite party on 12-05-11 replied to (Ex.A-5 =Ex.B6).

7.    POINT No.1:-   The only contention of the opposite party is that they handed over the letter containing the information to the agent of the postal department i.e., requiring the complainant to pay Rs.10,254/- @Rs.2/- per page for 5,127 pages.   To prove it the opposite party relied on Ex.B8 letter dated 01-11-11 and Ex.B-6.    For better appreciation Ex.B-8 is extracted below:

       “With reference to your office letter cited above, it is to inform that Sri D. Raghavendra Rao S/o D. Venkateswara Rao, aged about 35 years has been working as pickup agent of Speed Post Centre, Guntur, to pickup Speed Post articles from your office premises under Book Now Pay Later (BNPL) service.   As per this office records, he has been working as Pickup Agent for your BNPL account No.GT 11-64 since 08-07-2008.   He is an outsider engaged on outsourcing to pickup speed post articles from the premises of customers allotted to him.   Hence, the question of issuing appointment orders to such outsourcing agent does not arise.

       The specimen signatures of the said Sri D. Raghavendra Rao, pickup agent are attested hereunder, as desired”.  

8.      In Ex.B-8 the specimen signature of the agent Sri D. Ragavendra Rao was also attested.   Under Ex.B-6 the said agent received 72 covers on                   02-04-11.  The token number mentioned on the cover addressed to the complainant sent under speed post is 17528.   It finds place in Ex.B-6.    But the cover was sent through speed post by the said agent on 23-04-11.   Section 7(5) and (6) of RTI Act are extracted below for better appreciation:

          “(5) Where access to information is to be provided in the

                    Printed or in any electronic format, the applicant shall,

                   Subject to the provisions of sub-section (6) pay such

                    Fee as may be prescribed:

                             Provided that the fee prescribed under sub-section

                    (1) of Section 6 and sub-sections (1) and (5)                                                of  Section 7 shall be reasonable and no such fee shall                             charged from the persons who are of below poverty line                      as may be determined by the appropriate Government.

            (6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (5),                     the person making request for the information shall be                             provided the information free of charge where a public                          authority fails to comply with the time limits specified in                      sub-section (1). 

9.   As per section 7(6) of the RTI Act the concerned authority has to provide information free of charge if it fails to comply within 30 days.   Admittedly in this case the complainant received information regarding payment of required fees after the stipulated time.  

10.    Ex.B-7 and B-6 revealed that the opposite parties entrusted the cover containing information to the complainant well in advance.   But it is the agent who did not act promptly in entrusting those covers to the speed post authorities.   Under those circumstances it cannot be said that the opposite party committed deficiency of service.   The deficiency is elsewhere but not with the opposite party.   For the discussion made supra we answer this point in favour of the opposite party.  

11.  POINT NO.2:-   In view of findings on point No.1   the complainant is not entitled to any compensation from the opposite parties.   Hence this point is also answered in favour of the opposite parties.

12.  POINT No.3:-   In view of above findings in the result the complaint is dismissed without costs.

          Typed to my dictation by Junior Stenograpaher, corrected by us and pronounced in the open Forum dated this the 16^th day of November, 2011.

          MEMBER                                                     PRESIDENT

APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE

DOCUMENTS MARKED

For Complainant:

For opposite parties : 

                                                                                           PRESIDENT

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