The denial of information under the RTI Act was found arbitrary, and transparency in public procurement must be upheld.

Information sought:

1. The Appellant filed an RTI application dated 22.05.2024 (online) seeking the following information:

“The National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (NIFTEM-T) functioning under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries has processed a tender in the recent past for providing manpower services to them. The reference details are as below:

Organization: National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (NIFTEM-T)

Tender Title: Annual contract for providing Manpower

Tender Ref No: NIFTEM-T/PO/Ser/2023-24/017

Name of work: NOTICE INVITING TENDER FOR SUPPLY OF MANPOWER SERVICES TO NIFTEM-T

Tender ID in CPP Portal: 2023_IIFPT_782205_1

Date of Publishing in the CPP Portal: 23-Nov-2023 03:00 PM

With reference to the above tender, the following information shall be furnished:

1. The Copy of the detailed tender notice published on 23rd November 2023 through Central Public Procurement Portal.

2. The copy of Corrigendum issued on 30th November 2023

3. The copy of Corrigendum issued on 06th December 2023

4. The total list of entities/companies/firms applied for the tender

5. The total list of MSME, NSIC registered entities/companies/firms who have applied for the tender

6. The total list of all entities/companies/firms who have submitted the DD for EMD along with Tender Application

7. The total list of MSME, NSIC registered entities/companies/firms who have submitted DD for EMD along with Tender Application

8. The list of entities/companies/firms who have been accepted in the Technical Bid Opening

9. The total list of MSME, NSIC registered entities/companies/firms who have been accepted in the Technical Bid Opening

10. The list of MSME, NSIC registered entities/companies/firms who have submitted DD for EMD and also accepted in the Technical Bid Opening.

11. The list of MSME, NSIC registered entities/companies/firms who have NOT submitted DD for EMD and also accepted in the Technical Bid Opening.

12. The list indicating the amount quoted by each accepted firm for each category of the BOQ in the Financial Bid Opening. (For Example: If the BOQ has 10 categories and if there are 10 eligible entities/companies/firms have quoted for the financial bid, then the list should indicate all amounts of 10 categories of all 10 entities/companies/firms and the total entries in the list shall count to 100. This is only an illustrative case to give clarity on the information sought for. Accordingly, the list comprising actual BOQ items for each of the eligible entities/companies/firms shall be given).

13. The copy of the BOQ comparative chart (indicating all categories of the BOQ under Financial Bid of the published Tender Notice) uploaded to the CPP portal.

14. Details (Name, Designation, Years of Experience in Purchase Office related Activities) of the person who has prepared BOQ comparative chart (if in case a committee has prepared the BOQ comparative chart, the details (Name, Designation, Years of Experience in Purchase Office related Activities) in respect of each person of the committee.”

2. The CPIO furnished a reply to the Appellant on 06.06.2024 stating as under:

“With reference to your email cited above, it is to inform that your application has been filed before MoFPI, New Delhi under the provisions of RTI Act 2005 on 22.05.2024 for seeking available information. However, the CPIO, NIFTEM-T has received the said RTI application through email ID of CPIO, NIFTEM-T allotted by MoFPI, New Delhi only on 27.05.2024.

Information provided to the Question 1 to 14: Since it is covered under Section 11 (1) of the Right to Inf