Writ petition not maintainable under Article 226 without exhausting statutory second appeal remedy under RTI Act.

ORDER

This writ petition has been filed without exercising the statutory appellate remedy available before the Central Information Commission under the Right to Information Act.

2. The petitioner himself has admitted in paragraph No.15 of the affidavit filed in support of this writ petition that a second appeal lies before the Central Information Commission as against the impugned order. The following facts are not disputed:

a) the original authority, namely, the second respondent under theRight to Information Acthas rejected the petitioner's application on the ground that the queries sought for by the petitioner are interrogative in nature and therefore, they cannot be answered under the . b) The first appellate authority, namely, the first respondent has also upheld the order of the second respondent by giving the very same reason.

3. Instead of filing the second appeal before the Central Information Commission, the petitioner has chosen to file this writ petition on the ground that no proper reason has been given by the respondents for refusing the information sought for by the petitioner under the Right to Information Act. Having chosen to file the first appeal before the first respondent and the first respondent having upheld the order of the second respondent giving the very same reason for rejecting the petitioner's request, necessarily the petitioner will have to file a second appeal before the Central Information Commission as per the provisions of the . Having not exercised the statutory appellate remedy available to the petitioner under the , the question of interfering with the impugned order through this writ petition at this stage by this Court does not arise.

4. For the foregoing reasons, this Court directs the petitioner to approach the Central Information Commission as against the impugned order passed by the respective respondents by filing a second appeal as per the provisions of the Right to Information Act within a period of fifteen (15) days from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The Central Information Commission shall entertain the said second appeal, if the same is filed within the stipulated time as directed by this Court and shall decide the matter on its own merits and in accordance with law by passing a final order in the second appeal within a period of eight (8) weeks from the date of presentation of the second appeal by the petitioner. While passing the final order, the Central Information Commission shall give due consideration to the grounds raised by the petitioner in the second appeal.

ABDUL QUDDHOSE, J.

gm This writ petition is disposed of with the above direction. No costs.