Question: How to seek info from Courts under RTI

[gaurav_bandi]

I was wondering if the RTI can be used to extract details from the courts regarding the following

1) How many cases filled under different criminal section of IPC in the court every month.

2) How many cases are still under trial

3) How many accused are involved under trial

4) How many women are involved under trial

etc etc etc

Is it possible to find out such details from the district or the high court

Anyone who has tried this pls guide

Regards

[karira]

Gaurav,

You can certainly get all the information that you have listed in your post from the Courts.

Since you are in MP, the RTI Application and Fee needs to be as per the RTI Rules framed by the MP High Court. These can be obtained from:

RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT

(you need to download Hindi fonts to view the page, since it is in Hindi)

The list of CPIO's is also available on the above website.

[jps50]

In my opinion subordinate courts other than high courts and supreme court, need to follow state rules under rti. pl correct me.

[karira]

Originally Posted by jps50

In my opinion subordinate courts other than high courts and supreme court, need to follow state rules under rti. pl correct me.

I am not too sure about this.
I always felt that courts in a particular state will always follow the RTI Rules / Fees of the respective High Court of that State.

The RTI Rules for the Bombay High Court (The Bombay High Court Right To Information Rules, 2006 & The Maharashtra District Courts Right To Information Rules, 2006) clearly state on the top:

THE BOMBAY HIGH COURT RIGHT TO INFORMATION RULES, 2006

AND

THE MAHARASHTRA DISTRICT COURTS RIGHT TO INFORMATION RULES, 2006


Even the RTI Rules for AP High Court (http://hc.ap.nic.in/aphc/rtia/rulesframedbyaphc.doc) clearly state in Sec 1(iii):

"These Rules are applicable to the AP High Court and all the subordinate courts under the control of the High Court of AP"

Maybe the situation is different in other States.

Can members, who have personal experience or knowledge in applying to lower courts for information under RTI, please clarify ?

[gaurav_bandi]

Thanks for the nomination of this topic and the response. I was wondering that what if the desired fields are not available with the court (or infact any other body) then how to still get the information. I mean if i want to know that how many women are made as accused in all the criminal cases pending with the courts as on date, what to do if the court does not maintain a record of such data on the no. of women accused. In such a case will the principal that the PIO is not supposed to collect info for the RTI user and is only supposed to provide info available with him in the available format will apply here. What is the way to still get the info.

[jps50]

I also stand corrected. Courts subordinate to High Court have to follow rti rules framed by High Court of that State and not rules of state govt. I checked up in Gujarat.

[karira]

Originally Posted by gaurav_bandi

Thanks for the nomination of this topic and the response. I was wondering that what if the desired fields are not available with the court (or infact any other body) then how to still get the information. I mean if i want to know that how many women are made as accused in all the criminal cases pending with the courts as on date, what to do if the court does not maintain a record of such data on the no. of women accused. In such a case will the principal that the PIO is not supposed to collect info for the RTI user and is only supposed to provide info available with him in the available format will apply here. What is the way to still get the info.

Gaurav,

The fact that information has to be compiled does not mean that information can be denied.

Please read the following threads to understand different situations:

Rly asks man to pay for RTI information
What if the required info is very difficult to take out by the PIO
Misuse of rti act by asking voluminous information
Cost of providing information?

[opsharma]

Originally Posted by gaurav_bandi

Thanks for the nomination of this topic and the response. I was wondering that what if the desired fields are not available with the court (or infact any other body) then how to still get the information. I mean if i want to know that how many women are made as accused in all the criminal cases pending with the courts as on date, what to do if the court does not maintain a record of such data on the no. of women accused. In such a case will the principal that the PIO is not supposed to collect info for the RTI user and is only supposed to provide info available with him in the available format will apply here. What is the way to still get the info.

As per Delhi High Court(Right to Information)Rules,2006,Para4(1),and High Court if Punjab & Haryana (Right to Information )Rules,2007,Para 6(1) ,under Disposal of application by authorised person :-

"if the required information does not fall within the jurisdiction of the authorised person,it shall order return of application to the applicant----------------The application fee deposited in such cases shall not be refunded".

Under High Court Rules quoted above , what is the relevance of RTI Act Sec 6 (3).You not only get no information from the PIO addressed but also he takes no other action except your application is sent back to you with application fee forfeited .Application fee used to be/is? for certain type of information Rs 500/- only.

As per Himachal Pradesh High Court Rules 2007, separate applications are to be submitted for each subject and each year of information . Of course,mercifully,application fee is only Rs 10/- per application.

It is worth going through some of these High court RTI Rules, THOUROUGHLY, if you are intending to seek information from these. Because it is not only going to be frustrating , but expenses for a common citizen unless supported by interested statistical research bodies/NGOs .

[colnrkurup]

Though the information sought at serial 1 and 2 is readily held by the court information sought as serial 3 and 4 is normally not held by the court readily. However this can be gathered but involve trementous amount of work. I will not be suprised if the court furnish information sought at 1 nd 2 and add that information sought at ser 3 and 4 are not readily held by the court. They may add that the court is not in a position to provide information sought at 3 and 4 as it would disproportionately divert the resource of the Court as given in Section 7(9) of the Act. I don't think anything could be done as the court is stating the true facts.