Bar Council of India directed to file Compliance report regarding section 4 RTI Act four weeks from this order-

Central Information Commission ••
Room No. 305 B- Wing, August Kranti Bhawan,
Bhikaji Kama Place, New Delhi - 110066
Case No. CIC/-8SfAfi-2,lQ0-220?;
Dated: 6.5 .2013
Name of the Appellant: - Shri Maniram Sharma
Name of the Public Authority: Bar Council of India
,
Represented by: l.R Sharma (Secretary)
Date of hearing: 4.2.2013
ORDER
1. The appellant filed an RTI app1ication dated 5.1.2012 addressed to the CPIO, Bar
Council of India seeking information on 25 points regarding compliance of section 4
of the RTI Act.

2. The CPIO provided a point wise reply vide his reply dated 18.2.2012. The appellant
has filed a second appeal against the order of the first appellate authority.
3. The appellant seeks to know the time stipulations regarding compliance of section 4
of the RTI Act and submits that the website should contain information in hindi as per
section 4(4) of the RTI Act, 2005. The appellant seeks the following reliefs from the
Commission:
• Dissemination of documents in hindi on the website
• Publish an email ID which is regularly checked
• Provide status ofRTI application and appeal on the website
4. The order of the first appellate authority has not been brought on record. The
respondent submits in its written submissions that "in the reply CPIO has stated that the
Bar Council of India has already uploaded all the information on the website of Bar
Council of India .i.e, www.barcouncilofindia.org, ... " . Further the respondent submits
that BCI is in process of providing all the information available with it on the website
of the Bar Council of India.,
f •
5. In reply to query no. 25 of the RTI application, the respondent has replied stating
that" whenever information is being sought in Hindi, Bar Council of India is providing
the same on the special request of the RTI application." Further the respondent submits
that all the transactions of the Council is being done in English language only.
Decision:
The Commission is of the view that compliance of the section 4 of the RTI Act. is a
statutory obligation and the compliance of this section in a time bound manner
specially in relation to section 4 (1) (b) cannot be taken casually. The Commission
hereby-directs the respondent to comply wifh the provisions of section 4 (1) (b) of the'
.A., -:"
.RTIAct. Compliance report shall be filed with this respect within four weeks from this
order.
Section 4 (4) of the RTI Act is being reproduced in relation to the issue raised by the
appellant:
"All materials shall be disseminated taking into consideration the cost effectiveness,
local language and the most effective method of communication in that local area and
the information should be easily accessible to the extent possible in electronic format
with the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer as the
case may be, available free or at such cost of the medium or the print cost price as may
be prescribed.
Explanation- for the purposes of section (3) and (4), "disseminated" means making
I
known or communicated the information to the public through notice boards,
newspapers, public announcements, media broadcasts, the internet or any other means
including inspection of offices of any public authority."
As far as the proposal of dissemination of information in Hindi through the website is
concerned and other reliefs sought by the appellant as stated in para 3 of this order, the
Bar Council may consider the same as per the government policy, cost effectiveness,
most effective method of communication etc.
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Sushma Singh
Information Commissioner

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