Yes, appellant authority can only decide about the appeal and can direct if required; from
PIO to supply the information henceforth not supplied.
However, as rightly said, you cannot ask for information from Appellant Authority. The best course is to ask from the
PIO for the information.
However, as the 1st Appellant authority is from the same department and a direction to
PIO either to apply exemption or give information seems incorrect to me. The Appellant authority should have asked for the clarification from
PIO, gone ahead with the merits of the case and normally should have directed to either supply or not, rather than sending it back to
PIO to decide!