In consonance with the judicial pronouncements for giving legal status to the right to information, the Government of India have enacted a specific law in May, 2005, known as “Right to Information Act, 2005”. The Act in its preamble says to provide for setting up of the practical regime of right to information for all citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to provide transparency and accountabilities in the working of every public authority. The Act has made provisions for Constitution of Centre Information Commission (CCIC) and State Information Commission (SIC) as the appellate authorities. The information includes any mode of information in any form of record, document etc. A time limit has been prescribed for obtaining information on payment of prescribed fee. The right to information covers inspection of work documents, record etc. and the Act provides for restriction for third party information. Sensitive information of notified intelligence and security organization is also prohibited. The penalty for refusal to receive an application for information or for not providing information is Rs.250/- per day (upto Rs.25,000/-). Haryana Government in Administrative Reforms has notified Haryana Right to Information Rules, 2005 (under Right to Information Act) vide notification dated 28.10.2005. These rules inter-alia provide/prescribed from the submission of application in Form A to the State Public Information Officer/State Assistant Public Information Officer along with a fee as specified in rule 5 of these rules, for obtaining information from PIOs/APIOs and its acknowledgment; Assessing and the quantum of fee and apprising the application – the fee to be deposited and the mode for depositing the same; procedure to be followed in deciding appeal by State Information Commission. Administrative Reforms Department, Haryana have issued instructions for effective implementation of the said Act. All Heads of Departments have been advised:-
– To give wide publicity to this Act;
– To take immediate steps to publish the document mentioned under Section 4(b)(i) to (xvii) of this Act.
– To modify existing Acts so that the new Act prevail;
– To designate PIOs/APIOs
– To prominently display the details of officers who have been notified as PIOs/APIOs and 1st Appellate Authority.
A Monitoring Committee has been constituted to monitor the progress of implementation of Right to Information Act, 2005 under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary to Govt. Haryana.
Section 4 (1) (b) of the Act, in particular, requires every public authority to publish following seventeen categories of information:
(i) the particulars of its organization, functions and duties;
(ii) the powers and duties of its officers and employees;
(iii) the procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability;
(iv) the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions;
(v) the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions;
(vi) a statement of the categories/ of documents that are held by it or under its control;
(vii) the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consultation with, or representation by, the members of the public in relation to the formation of its policy or administration thereof.
(viii) a statement of the boards, councils, committees and other bodies consisting of two or more persons constituted as its part of for the purpose of its advise, and as to whether meetings of those boards, councils, committees and other bodies are open to the public, or the minutes of such meetings are accessible for public;
(ix) a directory of its officers and employees;
(x) the monthly remuneration received by each of its officers and employees, including the system of compensation as provided in its regulations;
(xi) the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made;
(xii) the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allotted and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes;
(xiii) particulars of receipts of concessions, permits or authorizations granted by it;
(xiv) details in respect of the information, available to or held by it, reduced in an electronic form;
(xv) the particulars of facilities available to citizens, for obtaining information including the working hours of a library or reading room, if maintained for public use;
(xvi) the names, designations and other particulars of the Public Information Officers;
(xvii) such other information as may be prescribed; and thereafter update these publications every year;
i) (a) Details of the Organization:
The details of organization are enumerated at Annexure “A” to this note.
(b) Functions and duties:
The State Commission and 22 District Commissions in the State of Haryana are performing quasi judicial function as enumerated in the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Consumer Protection Regulation, 2005 and Consumer Protections Rules, 2004 as per amended Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (35 of 2019), Consumer Protection Regulation, 2020 at Consumer Protection rules, 2021 and amended from time to time.
ii) (1) On Judicial side the State Commission has
a) Original/pecuniary jurisdiction of entertaining the consumer complaints involving an amount of Rs.50 lakh to Rs.2.00 crore.
b) Appeals are filed by the consumers before the State Commission against the orders of all the District Commission in the State of Haryana after depositing the fee of 50% of the awarded amount.
c) Revision Petitions are also filed before the State Commission against the interim orders of the District Commission
d) Execution petitions are filed for execution of the orders passed in the consumer complaints.
(II) On administrative side the President, State Commission is Head of Department.
(III) On Judicial side the District Commission has
a) Original /Pecuniary jurisdiction of entertaining the consumer complaints involving an amount upto Rs.50.00 Lakh.
b) Execution petition are filed for execution of the orders passed in the consumer complaint.
(IV) On administrative side the President, District Commission is Head of Office.
State Commission and District Commission do not have their own set of manuals and function on judicial side as per provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, Consumer Protection Regulations, 2005 and Consumer Protection Rules, 2004 and w.e.f. 20.07.2020 Consumer Protection Rules, 2019, and Consumer Protection Regulation, 2020, Consumer Protection Rules, 2021 and on administration side the functions/powers enumerated in the C.S.R., P.F.R. etc. are exercised by its officers/employees.
iii) The State Commission does not deal with the public utility or public service in the State except redressal of consumer grievances while performing quasi judicial functions under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Consumer Protection Regulations, 2020 and Consumer Protection Rules 2021. However, the work of each officer/official is subject to supervision as per departmental hierarchy detailed in point No.(i) (a) above.
iv) State Commission is not having its own set of Manuals except
a) Consumer Protection Act, 2019, enacted by the Parliament.
b) Consumer Protection Regulation, 2020 notified by the Hon’ble National Commission and
c) Consumer Protection Rules, 2004 notified by the State Government. The revised Consumer Protection Rules has been notified w.e.f. 23.06.2021
v) The quasi judicial functions of the State Commission and District Commission are governed by Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Consumer Protection Regulations, 2020 and Consumer Protection Rules, 2021 as amended from time to time.
vi) Judicial record of the decided cases is maintained as permanent record of the State Commission as well as District Commission as the case may be.
vii) Since no public utility service or amenities are deal by this Commission, except the quasi judicial functions, the representatives or the members of the public are not associated.
viii) The main functions of the State Commission are quasi judicial functions for Redressal of consumer grivances/disputes as per provisions of Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Consumer Protection Regulations, 2020 and Consumer Protection Rules, 2021 as amended from time to time. There is no governing body/ board/council/committee causing writing of minutes and access of them to public.
ix) The Directory of the officers/employees of the State Commission and District Consumer Commissions is appended as Annexure “B”.
x) The officers/officials of the State Commission and District Consumer Commission receives salary in the pay scale prescribed by the State Govt. and they are not being paid any extra remunerations or compensation, hence no information in this behalf. The post-wise pay band plus grade pay relating to the staff of State Commission is appended as Annexure “C”.
xi) The budget allocation under different sub heads/detailed heads under major head “2408-Food Storage and Warehousing (97-State Commission and 96-District Forum) (Non-Plan) Demand No.23 are appended at Annexure “D” for information.
xii) Since the public utility services are not dealt by this Commission, the subsidy is also not dealt by this Commission, hence no comments.
xiii) No concessions/permits or authorization to public or any body else is granted by this Department, therefore, no details can be submitted.
xiv) No information has been kept in an electronic form because of quasi judicial functions of the State Commission and District Commissions. However, the first certified copy of the order passed in the complaint/appeals/revision/civil Misc. application is supplied to the parties free of costs, thereafter copies are being supplied on payment of fee according to rule as mentioned in the Consumer Protection Regulations as amended upto date.
xv) The court hours in the State Commission and District Commission are observed as prescribed in Regulation No.5 of Consumer Protection Regulations and the official working hours of the State Commission and District Commission are the same as are of other Govt. departments in the State of Haryana. The library of law books and journals is being maintained for reference by the State Commission as well as by all the District Consumer Commission. No public reading rooms are being maintained by the State Commission and District Consumer Commissionin the State of Haryana.
Mediation cell has been established under section 74 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and is attached with State Commission as well as each District Consumer Commission in the State of Haryana.
xvi) The following officers of the State Commission have been declared as State Public Information Officer and Assistant State Public Information Officer:
Sh. SatyawanSingh , State Public Information Officer
Joint-Registrar (Court)
Sh. Sudhir Kumar, Assistant State Public
Superintendent. Information Officer.
Vide Order dated 01.07.2024 conveyed through Endst. No.988/SCDRC/RTI dated 01.07.2024. Sh. Sant Parkash Sood, Judicial Member of this Commission has been appointed as First Appellate Authority.
The said information has also been displayed on the notice board of this Commission.
Similarly, all the Presidents and Superintendents of the District Commissions in the State of Haryana are designated as State Public Information Officer and Assistant State Public Information Officer.
xvii) Any information as and when prescribed or desired will be submitted to Administrative Reforms Department.
Sh. Sant Prakash Sood , Judicial Member of this Commission has been appointed as First Appellate Authority, Sh. Satyawan Singh , Joint Registrar (Court) of this Commission has been appointed as State Public Information Officer and Sh. Sudhir Kumar, Superintendent of this Commission has been appointed as Assistant State Public Information Officer. The said information has also been displayed on the notice board of this Commission.
Similarly, all the Presidents and Superintendents of the District Commissions in the State of Haryana are designated as State Public Information Officer and Assistant State Public Information Officer.