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The appellate authority under the RTI (Right to Information) Act of the Securities and Exchange Board of India comprising of Mr. Anand Baiwar adjudicated in the matter of Aarti Harshad Patil v CPIO, SEBI, Mumbai (Appeal No. 4367 of 2021) dealt with an issue in connection with Section 2 (f), Section 8 (1) (d) and Section 19 (1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The appellant, Ms Aarti Harshad Patil had filed an application via RTI MIS Portal on the 12^th of September, 2020 under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The respondent responded to the application by a letter on the 5^th of October, 2021, filed by the appellate. After receiving a letter from the respondent on 5^th of October, 2021, on his application, the appellate decided to file an appeal on the 13^th of July, 2021.

Under Section 19(1) of the RTI Act, an aggrieved person may prefer the first appeal within thirty days from the receipt of the response from the CPIO of the concerned public authority. In the instant case, the impugned response from the respondent is dated 5^th of October, 2020. The appellant, therefore, should have filed the first appeal on or before expiry of thirty days from the date of receipt of the said response. As noted above, the appellant has filed this first appeal on July 13, 2021 i.e. approximately eight months after the last date permissible under the RTI Act. In this appeal, the appellant has neither requested for condonation of delay nor made any submission regarding the reason for the delay. In the absence of any reason that prevented the appellant from filing the first appeal in time, it was considered that this appeal as time barred and hence, liable to be dismissed.

The appellant was seeking the following the information:

1. How many investors have filed complaint against Anugrah Stock & Broking Pvt Ltd and status thereof.
2. Record of all communication between Anugrah Stock & Broking Pvt Ltd and SEBI, NSE and BSE
3. Any other matter which is of importance in the matter of Anugrah Stock & Broking Pvt Ltd
4. As per circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/DPIEA/CIR/P/2020/115, dated 1st Jul 2020. What is the status of implementation in Anugrah Stock & Broking Pvt Ltd case.

Click here to read the entire order.