No Bar In Furnishing B-Report And Its Enclosures Under RTI When Investigation Already Concluded: Karnataka High Court

A single-judge bench of Justice N S Sanjay Gowda while upholding the order of the State Information Commissioner (SIC) said,

"In my view, the Commissioner (SIC) was absolutely justified in directing furnishing of B-Report and its enclosures as sought for by respondent No.1 especially when the investigation in the matter had been concluded."

The Public Information Officer (PIO), CID had challenged the order of the SIC by which it had directed the CID to hand-over and furnish the B-Report and the enclosures, which were sought for by respondent No.1 (Malleshappa M Chikkeri).

The respondent's son is stated to have ended his life by jumping out from the window and it was stated by the authorities that he had died due to overdrinking. Respondent No.1 had sought for information regarding the B-Report that was filed after investigation, contending that the stigma was attached to his family by the furnishing of the B report.

However, the petitioners contended that it was open for respondent No.1 to secure B-Report and enclosures from the Magistrate. In appeal, the SIC had ordered that, "There was no prohibition to give information sought for since the investigation was already completed. Only in the event, the matter was under investigation, there was a bar for grant of the information regarding the investigation."

The High Court agreed with the above order of the SIC and accordingly dismissed the petition stating the following:

"The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that it was open for respondent No.1 to secure B-Report and enclosures from the Magistrate cannot be a ground to deny the information sought for under RTI. Therefore, no grounds are made out to entertain this petition. Accordingly, the petition is dismissed."

Case Title: Public Information Officer v.  Malleshappa M Chikkeri

Case No: WP 18599/2021

Date of Order: October 12, 2021

Appearance: Advocate Venkata Satya Narayana for the Petitioner

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