RTI on File inspection procedures

 To, 

The Public Information Officer,

Honble Delhi High Court,  

New Delhi - 110503

SUBJECT - Application under section 6(1) and 6(3) of RTI Act 2005

Respected Sir,

Kindly provide me the following information under RTI Act 2005.

1. Please provide information if a party-in-person (petitioner or respondent) is allowed to apply for file inspection in a civil matter. If answer is no, please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law for civil suits which disallow it.

2. Please provide information if a party-in-person (complainant or accused) is allowed to apply for file inspection in a criminal matter. If answer is no, please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law for criminal trials which disallow it.

3. Please provide information if there is a maximum time limit (in hours, eg. 1 hour or 2 hour) or a specific time window (say 10 am to 12 pm only) for completing file inspection by an applicant. If YES, please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law which specifies the time limit or time window. 

4. Please provide information if multiple applicants are allowed to inspect file at the same time (or all applicants need to go one-by-one to inspect the file). If NO, please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law which specifies the time limit.

5. Please provide information if an applicant is allowed to take notes of the case file on a notebook using pen/pencil during file inspection. If NO, please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law which disallows it.

6. As the mobile camera phones have become ubiquitous, please provide information if an applicant is allowed to take photo of any page in case file during file inspection using a mobile phone. If NO, please provide a detailed rationale or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law which disallows it.

7. Please provide information if an applicant of file-inspection is allowed to inspect the whole file OR are there any pages in the case file which an applicant is not allowed to inspect. Please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law which specifies such restriction.

8. Please provide details whether the information supplied for above questions also applies equally to all subordinate courts of Honble Delhi High Court. If not, please provide same information in 1-7 for all subordinate courts.

 

If all above information is not related with your office/department then please forward this request/application to the concerned office/department under section 6(3) of RTI Act 2005 and also please CC to me.

Yours Faithfully,

=============

FA

To,

The Appellate Authority i.e. Registrar (IT), 

Second Floor, Administrative Block,

Delhi High Court, New Delhi

SUBJECT: Appeal under S. 19 of RTI Act against RTI application with Diary No. 1055/2022

Ground for appeal: Incomplete information supplied

Sir,

I am not satisfied with the reply against information sought in Q. No. 6 and Q. No. 7.

Regarding Q. No. 6, "...please provide information if an applicant is allowed to take photo of any page in case file during file inspection using a mobile phone. If no, please provide a detailed rationale or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/ procedures/written law which disallows it."

Grounds:

Instead of providing a direct yes/no answer to the question, I was asked to refer to Part A of Chapter 5 of Volume V of Delhi High Court Rules .

I have gone through the suggested material, however, I have not found any mention of use of mobile phones. 

The closest rule is rule 7(i) which prohibit use of pen and ink perhaps because so as not to use ink & pen to defile the original court records. It allows use of pencil to allow copy perhaps because pencil is not capable of doing permanent damage to the original records. However, it does not provide the information sought about use of mobile devices to take a copy similar to what one can do with a pencil. 

Regarding Q. No. 7, "Please provide information if an applicant of file-inspection is allowed to inspect the whole file OR are there any pages in the case file which an applicant is not allowed to inspect. Please provide details or reference to corresponding rule in the practice rules/procedures/written law which specifies such restriction."

Grounds:

I was asked to refer to Part A of Chapter 5 of Volume V of Delhi High Court Rules .

I have gone through the suggested material and at Clause 9 in Part A, I have found that "Inspection of police papers prohibited". However, the definition of "police papers" is not provided in the document. So, the information is not clear.

Please provide the complete information for Q. No. 6 and 7.

Yours Faithfully,