'Appeal Disposed In Cryptic Manner': Delhi HC Directs CIC To Pass Reasoned Order

"The Impugned Order has not discussed the above issue and has, in a cryptic manner, disposed of the Appeal in form of a direction," Justice Navin Chawla noted.

He therefore remanded the matter back to the Commission with a direction to decide the appeal on merits, in a reasoned manner.

The Petitioner herein, SR Dass, was a bidder in a tender process issued by GAIL. He had sought, by way of an RTI application, details of the companies who had participated in the aforementioned tender; whether Financial Bid had been opened, if so, quoted price of all the companies, etc.

The information was denied by CPIO, GAIL, and on appeal, by the First Appellate Authority, on the ground that the information requested contained confidential details of the commercial aspects of the party and was prohibited from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act, 2005.

In the second appeal, heard by then Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Julka, a direction was made to the CPIO to 'explain the updated status' to the Appellant in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 within a period of 30 days.

Aggrieved by this direction, the Petitioner approached the High Court under its writ jurisdiction, stating that the impugned order does not decide the Appeal and leaves the matter again to the respondents.

The Court observed that the CIC had disposed of the appeal in a cryptic manner. It therefore ordered thus:

"In my opinion, it is a fit case where the Impugned Order be set aside and the matter be remanded back to the learned CIC for deciding the Appeal on merits and in accordance with the law."

Matter was argued by Advocates Aditya Jain and Neha Gyamlani (for Petitioner); Advocates Aman Singh Bakshi, Gaurang Kanth, Puneet Taneja and Manmohan Singh Narula (for Respondents)

Case Title: SR Dass v. CPIO & Nodal Officer & Anr.

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