Y.Akbar Ahmed v. The Public Information Officer

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 14.03.2017 C O R A M THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.SATHYANARAYANAN W.P.No.6163 of 2017 Y. Akbar Ahmed ... Petitioner Vs 1.The Public Information Officer/Assistant Secretary II, Tamilnadu Wakf Board, No.1, Jaffar Syrang Street, Vallal Seethakathi Nagar, Chennai - 600 001.

2.The Appellate Authority/Chief Executive Officer, Tamilnadu Wakf Board, No.1, Jaffar Syrang Street, Vallal Seethakathi Nagar, Chennai - 600 001.

3.The Tamil Nadu Information Commission, No.2, Theagaraya Salai, Near Aalai Amman Koil, Teynampet, Chennai - 600 018.

... Respondents Prayer:

Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying for the direction to the 3rd respondent herein to consider his representation dated 07.11.2016, and pass orders within a stipulated time fixed by this Hon'ble Court, and may pass orders herein to the 3rd respondent to take strict action against the 1st and 2nd respondents for deliberately providing wrong information from the invalid Pro-forma report dated 4.11.2016, available with the Tamilnadu Wakf board.

For Petitioner : V. Akbar Ahmed Petitioner/Party-in-Person For Respondents : Mr.V.Lakshminarayanan for R1 and R2 Mr.Niranjan Rajagopalan for R3

O R D E R

By consent, this Writ Petition is taken up for final disposal.

2. The petitioner by invoking the provisions of Right to Information Act, 2005, sought information from the first respondent and since the said information was not provided, he approached the second respondent on 28.03.2015 by way of appeal, but the second respondent did not pass orders and therefore, he approached the third respondent by way of second appeal on 11.05.2015 and the third respondent, vide order dated 20.09.2016, has permitted the first respondent to provide the information sought for by the petitioner, within 30 days of receipt of the said order. The grievance expressed by the petitioner is that the first respondent did not provide the actual information, but provided wrong/misleading information and therefore he invoked Section 20(1)(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 in the form of second appeal dated 07.11.2016 and it was numbered as S.A.No.3572/2016.

3. The petitioner/party-in-person submitted that it would be suffice to direct the third respondent to dispose of the second appeal in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible.

4. Heard Mr.V.Lakshminarayanan, learned counsel who accepts notice on behalf of the respondents 1 and 2 and Mr.Niranjan Rajagopalan, learned counsel who accepts notice on behalf of the third respondent.

5. This Court, taking into consideration the limited scope of prayer sought for by the petitioner and without going into merits of the claim projected by the petitioner, directs the third respondent to consider and dispose of the appeal filed by the petitioner in S.A.No.3572/2016, after putting on notice, the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board and pass orders as expeditiously as possible and not later than eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and communicate the decision taken, to the petitioner as well as to the Tamil Nadu Wakf Board.

6. This Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs. Sd/- Assistant Registrar //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar

To 1.The Public Information Officer/Assistant Secretary II, Tamilnadu Wakf Board, No.1, Jaffar Syrang Street, Vallal Seethakathi Nagar, Chennai - 600 001.

2.The Appellate Authority/Chief Executive Officer, Tamilnadu Wakf Board, No.1, Jaffar Syrang Street, Vallal Seethakathi Nagar, Chennai - 600 001.

3.The Tamil Nadu Information Commission, No.2, Theagaraya Salai, Near Aalai Amman Koil, Teynampet, Chennai - 600 018.

Copy to:

The Tamil Nadu Wakf Board, No.1 Jaffar Syrang Street, Vallal Sethakathi Nagar, Chennai 600 001 +1cc to Mr.Y Akbar Ahmed, Advocate, S.R.No.15847 rj(CO) md(21/03/2017) W.P.No.6163 of 2017