Brief of the Case

Shri Dilip Pegu, President, Mising Autonomy Demand Committee & Accord Signatory Member of Mising Autonomous Council filed a complaint before the Assam Information Commission stating that the Principal Secretary, Mising Autonomous Council did not furnish the information as sought for by him vide his petition dated 15.9.06.

The information sought for are as follows:

1. The detailed fund allocation statement by the Govt. of Assam to the Mising Autonomous Council department wise for the year 2005-06.
2. The detailed statement of fund released by the State Govt. to the Mising Autonomous Council during the year 2005-2006 department wise.
3. Details of schemes implemented by the M.A.C for the year 2005-2006.
4. The fund utilization statement of each scheme by the concerned department of M.A.C for the year 2005-2006.
5. The progress report of each scheme implemented by MAC for the year 2005-06

Submission by the parties

Heard the complaint. The Principal Secretary, MAC stated before the Commission that he was not familiar with the provisions of R TI Act, 2005 and he had to obtain a copy of the Right to Information Act, 2005 from the Deputy Commissioner, Lakhimpur to take action on the petition submitted by the petitioner. So the delay in furnishing information was not deliberate but owing to ignorance for which he prayed for excuse. He stated that he brought with him the information which he wanted to hand over to the complainant. The Commission directed the Principal Secretary, MAC to hand over the reply which he did in presence of the Commission. The Principal Secretary stated that while there was no allocation for funds for works of permanent or temporary nature in the first installment but for the second installment allocation was made for permanent and temporary nature.

The complainant wanted time to examine the documents furnished to him. He also wanted further information on the utilization of the amount for each scheme. He further wanted to see the files/cash books/sanction orders relating to the schemes

Orders of the Commission

(I) The Commission was satisfied that the delay in furnishing information was not deliberate but on account of ignorance of the provisions of R TI Act. Therefore, the Commission refrained from imposing any penalty on the public authority, but ordered that the information would be given free of cost to the petitioner.

(II) The Commission also directed that the complainant might submit a petition with application fees to the Principal Secretary, MAC for obtaining details of the utilization/expenditure made out of the sanctioned amount and the details of the schemes etc. undertaken by the Mising Autonomous Council. He may also submit separate request to the Principal Secretary for examining documents/cash books etc. On receipt of such petition, the Principal secretary, MAC should furnish him the information and allow him to inspect the documents/take copies on payments of the fees as prescribed within 30 days.