O R D E R

1. The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) M/o. Steel, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi. The appellant seeking information is as under:-

“Information and documents requested on annual reports on the working and affairs of companies controlled or otherwise by Ministry of Steel prepared by Ministry of Steel as required under Sec 619A Companies Act 1956 and equivalent provisions of Companies Act 2013 in respect of govt companies where central govt is a shareholder and placed before both Houses of Parliaments every year since inception of Ministry of Steel or since Companies Act 1956 came into effect including the period when the Companies Act 2013 was in force etc may be forwarded in the manner stated in the attached file along with copies of the said annual reports as asked for in the said attached file . The Board Report , The Corporate Governance Reports , CAGs reports and schedules thereto , auditors reports and schedules thereto , Balance Sheets , Profit and Loss Accounts and other details and schedules thereto and Notes to the accounts and statements of accounting policies etc forwarded to the members u s 219 Companies Act 1956 and equivalent provisions of Companies Act 2013 r w Corporate Governance and Other Guidelines and placed at the Annual General Meetings of the company for approval and approved at the concerned AGMs rightfully or otherwise by the Authorised Representative of the President of India who would have attended the AGM is not the subject matter of the information and documents asked for . What is asked for is the said annual report prepared by Ministry of Steel after the AGMs within 3 months of the said AGMS and placed at Parliament .

These will not at all be available with DOREV , CBODT , CCITM , CCITG , Registrar of Companies , Income Tax Department , Ministry of Corporate Affairs , Ministry of Finance etc”

2. The CPIO vide letter dated 28-09-2018 and 11-09-2018 has given reply to the appellant. The information as requested by the applicant is available in the public domain and the same may be accessed on the website of CPSEs as well as this Ministry (http://steel.gov.in). Being dissatisfied with the same, the appellant has file first appeal dated 29-01-2020 and requested that the information should be provided to him.No order of FAA is placed on Records.Hehas filed a second appeal before the Commission on the ground that information sought has not been provided to him and requested to direct the respondent to provide complete and correct information.

Hearing:

3. The appellant attended the hearing through video conferencing. The respondent, Shri Rajesh Kumar, CPIO/ Under Secretary (MOIL Division) along with Shri Sunil Kumar Singh, CPIO/ Under Secretary (Coordination Division)

attended the hearing through audio-call.

4. The respondent submitted their written submissions and the same has been taken on record.

5. The appellant reiterated the contents of his RTI Application and submitted that the desired information has not been provided to him by the respondent on his RTI application dated 01.09.2018. He further submitted that the respondent is willfully denying the information sought and wasting public funds in transferring applications to unrelated parties to avoid furnishing information. He contended that the information sought in the above RTI Applications are not found on the said web link provided by the respondent.

6. Shri Rajesh Kumar submitted that the appellant is seeking information pertaining to various reports such as the annual report, Board Report, Corporate Governance Reports, CAGs reports, auditors reports, Balance Sheets , Profit and Loss Accounts and other details and schedules thereto etc. pertaining to various ministries which he claims are not available in the websites. “As the subject matter was not specific to any Division/Section of Ministry of Steel, the Nodal officer (RTI) forwarded the RTI a