Boddupalli Shankaraiah v. The State lnformation Commission

petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue Writ, Order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the order in Complaint No. 6915/S!C-MP|2O22 dated 21.OB.ZO2S passed by the Respondent No.1, Telangana State lnformation Commission , Hyderabad as arbitrary , illegal and unjust and voilative of Artiole 19 (1) (a) of Constitution of lndia and consequently set aside the same and direct the Respondent No. 1 to consider the Complaint No. 6915/S|C-MP/2022 afresh in accordance with law after giving the petitioner opportunity of hearing him by duly serving notice of hearing of the case on the petitioner. I I ! t i l I :: :i i. i' :i' ! !!, Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to pass order during pen, Jency of the writ petition directing the Respondent No. 1 to decide the C.No. 691{t ot 2022 under Section 18(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 of the Right To information Act, 2005, pending disposal of the writ petition. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI R.LA)(MINARASIMHA RAO Counsel for the Respondents: AGP FOR INFORMATION & TECHNOLOGY The Court made the following: ORDER IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUREPALLI NANDA Between : BodduPalli Shankaraiah And Petitioner The State Information Commission represented by its Information Commissioner' SamacharaHaku Bhavan, Behind Mojamjahi Market' Hyderabad and others ResPondents ORDER Heard Sri R' Lakshmi Narsimha Rao' learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for rnformation Technology appearing on behalf of the respondents.

#2. 2 SN,I W.P.No.9843 of 2026 "...to issue Writ, Order or Direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the order in Complaint No. 6915/ SIC- MPl2022 dated 29.08.2025 passed by the Respondent No.1, Telangana State Information Commission Hyderabad as arbitrary , illegal and unjust and voilative of Article 19 (1) (a) of Constitution of India and consequently set aside the same and direct the Respondent No. 1 to consider the Complaint No. 6915/SIC-MP/2022 afresh in accordance with law after giving the petitioner opportunity of hearing him by duly serving notice of hearing of the case on the petitioner and pass..."

#3. The case itioner in brief as oer the averments m de in th affidavi filed bv the Detiti oner tns DDOrt of the ore nt Wrat Petition rsasu nder:- i) The petitioner filed an application dated 23.03.2022 under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 beforer Respondent No.2 seeking information regarding the status of the petitioner's job proposal dated 15.09.200g for appointment on compassionate grounds. However, the said inforn, ation was not furnished. 3 SN,J W.P.No.9843 of 2026 ii) Aggrieved by the inaction, the petitioner preferred an appeal under Section 18(1) of the RTI Act before Respondent No.1. Due to non-appointment of commissioners, the matter remained pending for a considerable time. iii) Subsequently, Respondent No.1 passed an order dated 29.08.2025 without issuing notice to the petitioner or providing an opportunity of hearing, which was communicated on 08.01.2026 to the petitioner. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner approached this Court by fi{ing the present writ petition. PERUSED THE RECORD: A) The relevant portion of the order passed bv the Telanoana Information Commission dated 29.O8.2O25 in the Complaint No.6915/SIC-MP/2O22, is extracted hereunder: "The Complaint was taken on file and notices were issued to both the parties for hearing on 2g-O8-2O25. 4 SN,J W.P.No.9843 of 2026 The case is called on 29-OA-2O25 ' The (:omplainant is absent. The Public Information Offlcer is absent. The Assistant Public Information Officer is l)resent and filed an affidavit stating that vide letter No' :rE/oP/KN R/DE(r)/PO/JAO( L&RrI)/s2lPIO- 5 59/D. No. 209/23 dated 27 -O4-2O23 sought information was furnished to the complainant which was received from the Divisional Engineer/MRT/Karimnagar through letter dated 20-01-2023. Heard the Assistant Public Information Officer and perused the records. As the sought information was furnished, the complaint is closed. " DI CUSSI ON AN D CON CLUSION: 4 e submissions: r h f

4.1 Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that, in response to the appeal filed by the petitioner under Section 18(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 before the Telangana Information Commission, Hyderabad against the public authority, a notice dated 19'08.2025 in Case 5 SN,J w.P.No.9843 of 2026 No.6915/SIC-MP/2O22 was issued by the office of the Telangana Information Commission, Hyderabad, calling upon the petitioner to appear in person before the Commission at 10:30 a.m. on 29th August, 2025, at Court Hall No.2, Room No. GF-5, Ground Floor, along with certain docu ments.

4.2 The said notice was received by the petitioner on

03.09.2025, however, without providing any reasonable opportunity to the petitioner, the impugned order, dated

29.08.2025 was passed by Respondent No.1.

4.3 On 29.08.2025, the complaint was closed, recording the absence of the petitioner, without providing him an opportunity of hearing. The petitioner was not heard before the passing of the impugned order, and the complaint dated

18.05.2022 of the petitioner was closed by Respondent No. 1 behind his back. Based on the a resaid submissions, I arned counsel aooearino on behalf of the oetitioner contends that the oetitioner is entitled for the relief as Drayed for in the orese nt writ D ition. 6 SN.] W.P.No.9843 of 2026 5' Learned Assistant Government preader for Information and Technorogy, appearing on beharf of the respondents, doe:; not dispute the fact that the notice dated 1g.0g.2025 issu'-'d by Respondent No.1 commission, cailing upon the petitioner to appear before it on 29.08.2025, was received by the petitioner on 03.0g.2025.

#6. a) The aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, b) The submissions made by the tearned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government pteader for rnformation and Technorogy appearing on beharf of the respondents, c) The notice dated lg.Og.2025 issued by the Comrnission in Case No.6915/SIC_MP /2022, ct) The order impugned dated 2g.0g.2025 passed in complaint No.691S/SIC_MP l2O2Zl 7 SN,l W.P.No.9843 ot.2026 e) The fact that the petitioner was denied a reasonable opportunity of hearing on the complaant dated 18.05.2022 filed under Section 18(1) of the RTI Act, 2OO5 before Respondent No.1. f) The fact that the notice dated 19.08.2025 had been received by the petitioner onty on o3.o9.2025, g) The discussion and conclusion as arrived at paragraph Nos.4 and 5 of the present order, dated 29.O8.2O25 passed bv Respondent No.1 closinq the comolaint dated 18.O5.2O25, is set aside and the { r, { accordance to law, within a period of three (3) weeks herein. There shall be no order as to costs. 8 SN,J w.P.No.9843 0f 2026 Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this Writ Petition, shall stand closed. To, //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER -../ Sd/-P.C SULEKHA DEVI REGISTRAR Hal<ku Bhavan, Behind Mozamjahi Market, Hyderabad.

#1. Thtl lnformation Commissioner, State tnformation Commission, Samachara 2. Thet Public lnformation officer, (Under RTI Act, 20os), office of the superintending Engineer, operation circle, TSNPDCL, Karimnagar, Karimnagar district. 3' The Public lnformation Officer, Office of the Divisional Engineer, Electrical, 4. one cc to sRt R.LAXMTNARASTMHA RAo, Advocate topucl 5. Two ccs to Gp FoR TNFORMATTON & TECHNOLoGY, High court for the 6. Two CD Copies State of Telangana at Hyderabad [OUT] MRT, Karimnagar, Karimnagar district BSR/PMK B0n HIGH COURT DATED i 0210412026 ORDER WP.No.9843 of 2026 CC TODAY I , s ?t]fi ,,.,.r., ALLOWING THE WRIT PETITION, WITHOUT GOSTS C''t-t \ {v