Question: Personal Approach to PIO ?

[The Great]

Dear Sirs,
i)I have sought certain information from the local N.C.C. office addressing to the PIO i.e. Commanding Officer on 27.2.08
ii) As no communication has been made to me til 24.4.08, I made an appeal to the FAA on 25.4.08. As address of the FAA was not known to me, I sent it to the next higher authorities i.e. Group Commander with a request to forward it to the proper authority if he is not directly dealing with the matter.
iii)I received an ordinary letter lately from the Group HQ Office which is dated 29.4.2008. This letter shows that, a copy of my appeal has been sent to the NCC Directorate,Orissa And a copy to me, where in it is written that, "YOU ARE REQUESTED TO APPROACH 11(o)Bn NCC FOR THE REQUIRED INFORMATION" i.e.I have to approach the PIO, means personal interview.
Hence, Whether it is justified on my part to approach the PIO,personally, who has not responded to me earlier ?( I do not like to do so.)
Please guide me if any members has such experience.
Yours Sincerely, A.K.Mishra

[colnrkurup]

I think I gave you through this forum the correct address of the PIO and the AA. All you have to do is follow strictly as per the RTI Act. Request application to the PIO., followed by the First Appeal and Second Appeal. There is absolutely no legal requirement of your personal attendence to the PIO.

[The Great]

Yes Cornel Sir, You have told me about NCC Directorate as the FAA. I am sorry that I could not follow you. As I submitted my application to the Commanding Officer i.e.PIO, I made my Appeal to the next higher authority Group Commander. Next I will make 2nd appeal to the Commission. To avoid all such correspondance, I sought my request to intimate me the information through e-mail. Another reaon for request through e-mail is that sometimes the PIO letter for depositing fees are missing as they sent those letter by Ordinary post, might be intentional.
But What is to be done now? I think I will not reply to the FAA. and will go on for 2nd appeal.
Yours sinceerely,A.K.Mishra

[sidmis]

Yes Cornel Sir,

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But What is to be done now? I think I will not reply to the FAA. and will go on for 2nd appeal.
Yours sinceerely,
A.K.Mishra

Hello TheGreat,

Though your post was referenced to ColNRKurup, I am just chipping into it.

Approaching the PIO for information is always a better Option than to fall into the Time Trap of 2nd Appeal.

If you are reluctant to approach the PIO personally then write to him to supply information as instructed by his superior authority. As such if no file inspection is requested then information can only be supplied through letter only. So no need to visit the PIO personally.

Write another letter to the official who gave that instruction to seek clarification whether your 1st appeal is disposed off or not?

After collecting as much information from the PIO as possible, go for 1st/2nd Appeal.

In the meanwhile you may also file another RTI Application seeking info on how your Original RTI Application is handled?

You have time in your hand. Use it wisely. Don't rush into 2nd Appeal so soon.

[karira]

There is no need to approach the PIO personally.
Please do as suggested by colnrkurup and sidmis.

[The Great]

Thanks to Col.Saab,Sidmis and Karira, for your valuable suggestion. With due regards to Col.Saab ,I am to say that, before going on for 2nd appeal I shall write to the PIO to supply information,as instructed. Actually answer to my only question is a difficult one,
even my employer was also informed about the fact that I have seek such information from them, though I have not mentioned my official address on the org.RTI application.
Yours sincerely,Mishra.

[colnrkurup]

Sidharth has brought in a very important aspect. An applicant should interpret the Rules to his own convenience. Sidharth has brought in a very imnportant facto.TIME MANAGEMENT. iF ONE GO FOR SECOND APPEAL HE CAN FORGET IT FOR AT LEAST ONE YEAR. But the applicant bent slightly his affairs can normally sorted out within a month. Use the option wisely.

[The Great]

Thank You Cornel Saab, I have submitted letter as advised by Sidartha.

[sidmis]

Hello TheGreat,

This is an interesting case.

So Keep this forum updated.

Sidharth

[The Great]

Dear Sirs, In response to the letter of FAA, I wrote two letters as advised by Sidmis-one to the PIO "...As no file inspection has been requested or required by me and the information can be supplied through letters, pl. provide me information...." And another to the FAA "....I may please be clarified as to whether my Ist appeal is disposed off or not?" on 16th May.
And the information was received by me on 23rd May directly from the FAA, free of cost by Regd.Post signed by the Adm.Officer of Group HQ. However, in all their letters, the Designation Seal of FAA or PIO was not stamped.

[colnrkurup]

One thing we should remember The works of PIOs and AAs are additional responsibilities assigned. Some of them are busy otherwise. So long as the informtion provided by them serve your required purpose you should not split hairs. Of cource if some of them get funny we should not spare them by throwing every provisions in the Act on them . In this case the Adm Officer seems to have decided tobe straight at least now.. He has given you the informtion free of cost and sent it by registered post. If non-affixation of the designation seal does not affect your requiremet, please forget it.

[sidmis]

Hello TheGreat,

Col is Right.

Don't fight on not so important issues. Conserve your energy for a big fight.

>> However, in all their letters, the Designation Seal of FAA or PIO was not stamped.

Kindly confirm whether there's any official Stamp showing the name & designation officer signing it or not?

Unsigned papers are worthless.


Sidharth

[The Great]

No Sidharth ,there is no Official Seal, nor it is a printed form, but a typed one. As typed the signatory is Admin.Officer for Group Com. I have made a mistake in my RTI question for which, I was not able to get the proper answer. But I am satisfied with it.

[The Great]

Yes Sirs, I wanted to make a full stop to this, But Pl.read:-
I shought certain information form the Gr.Comm.NCC, a copy of which has been forwarded to the V.C.of the University,might be due to involvement of Educational Matter with he is not connected directly. I received a copy of the letter from the Director of the University where he states that, it"RELATED TO THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATIVE MATTER OF THE COLLEGE"
Applied on 27.2.08 as no communication made to me Appeal on 25.4.08
Received Information on 23.5.08 though not satisfactory.
Should I appeal to the next higher Authority to impose fine for the period 27.3.08 to 22.5.08 i.e.till I received information. IF ALL CONCERN TRY TO HARSH ME.
Yours sincerely, Mishra

[sidmis]

"RELATED TO THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATIVE MATTER OF THE COLLEGE"

It has no place in Right to Information.

If it is available in material form and not exempted under any clause then it has to be disclosed. Since no exemption clause is invoked it means the information should be discosed.

You can go for 2nd appeal if 45 days limit is over.

I wanted to make a full stop to this...
RTI is a never ending process.
There's no stopping once you take the plunge.