S.Ranjith Kumar v. The Public Information Officer

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 11.11.2020

CORAM

THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE R. SURESH KUMAR W.P.No.16045 of 2020 S.Ranjith Kumar ...

Petitioner -Vs1.The Public Information Officer Tamil Nadu Information Commission No.2, Theagaraya Road, (Opposite to Aalayamman Koil), Teynampet Chennai 600 018.

2. The District Collector, District Collectorate Dharmapuri District - 636 705.

3.The District Revenue Officer, Dharmapuri.

4.The Special Tahsildar, Tahsildar office Town Settlement Office, Dharmapuri.

5.The Deputy Tahsildar, Tahsildar Office Dharmapuri.

6. The Tahsildar, Tahsildar Office Dharmapuri.

...

Respondents Prayer : Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the issue of a Writ of Mandamus directing the first respondent to expeditiously dispose off the petitioners appeals dated 22.04.2019 and 23.04.2019.

For Petitioner : Mr.P.Valliappan For Respondents : Mr.Niranjan Rajagopal, Standing Counsel-for R1 Ms.R.J.Radhika, Government Advocate - for RR 2 to 6

O R D E R

The prayer sought for in this writ petition is to direct the first respondent to expeditiously dispose off the petitioners appeals dated 22.04.2019 and 23.04.2019.

2. The petitioner is an information seeker, who sought to get information from the fifth respondent and since the same has not been furnished, has preferred an appeal before the appellate authority ie., the District Collector / second respondent, where also the petitioner could not get the necessary information sought for. Therefore, he preferred second appeal in two cases to the first respondent Information Commissioner on 22.04.2019 and 23.04.2019 in Appeal Nos.Me.Mu.M.No.12300/2019 and 12301/2019. The said appeals since have not been disposed according to the petitioner, he has chosen to file the present writ petition with the aforesaid prayer.

3. On notice, Mr.Niranjan Rajagopal appeared for the first respondent State Information Commissioner and Ms.R.J.Radhika, learned Government Advocate appeared for the respondents 2 to 6.

4. Learned counsel for the first respondent on instructions would submit that, both the appeals have subsequently been given numbers as S.A.No.3765/E/2019 and S.A.No.3766/E/2019 respectively and were decided on merits and disposed of on 21.05.2020, where in fact a positive direction has been given in favour of the petitioner to the Public Information authorities to furnish the information sought for by the petitioner and a copy of the said order, though had already been despatched, a copy of the same has once again been sent through email to the learned counsel for the petitioner.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner Mr.Valliappan has accepted and endorsed the receipt of the copy of the order passed by the first respondent disposing the two appeals by an order dated 21.05.2020. However, he would submit that, the petitioner has not received the order and under the provisions of the Act the petitioner, who is the information seeker, would be entitled to get a copy of the order passed by the first respondent.

6. In response to the same, Mr.Niranjan Rajagopal, learned counsel for the first respondent would further submit that normally a copy of the order passed by the first respondent would be despatched to the party ie., the appellant also. Here, in the case in hand, if at all the copy is yet to be despatched to the petitioner, a copy of the same definitely would be despatched to the petitioner within a shortest possible period ie., within a period of one week.

7. In view of the said submission having been made by the learned counsel for the first respondent and since the appeals in question which were sought to be disposed of by the authority, have already been disposed of by an order dated 21.05.2020, recording the above statement, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs.

Sd/- Assistant Registrar(CCC) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar To 1.The Public Information Officer, Tamil Nadu Information Commission, No.2, Theagaraya Road, (Opposite to Aalayamman Koil), Teynampet, Chennai 600 018.

2. The District Collector, District Collectorate, Dharmapuri District - 636 705.

3.The District Revenue Officer, Dharmapuri.

4.The Special Tahsildar, Tahsildar office Town Settlement Office, Dharmapuri.

5.The Deputy Tahsildar, Tahsildar Office Dharmapuri.

6. The Tahsildar, Tahsildar Office Dharmapuri.

+1cc to Mr.P.Valliappan, Advocate Sr.37025 W.P.No.16045 of 2020 um[co] srg 04/12/2020