Sangeeta Chandra, J. - (1.) Heard Shri Vivek Shukla, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the petitioner and Shri Shikhar Anand, who appears for the Respondent no.2 and also perused the counter affidavit filed by the Respondent no.1, Qamar Hassan Khan, Head Constable who had sought information from the petitioners which allegedly was not given to him and therefore, he filed Second Appeal under Section 19 of the Right to Information Act (hereinafter referred as Act, 2005).
(2.) A preliminary objection has been raised on behalf of the Respondent no.2, by Shri Shikhar Anand, that this writ petition has been filed by the Board through its Member Secretary and the State Public Information Officer, U.P. Police Recruitment & Promotion Board, Lucknow, whereas the orders impugned have been passed by the State Information Commission against the Officers in their personal capacity imposing penalty upon them for willfully withholding information from the applicant.
(3.) He has referred to an order passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Writ C No.22935 of 2019 (Public Service Commission U.P. and Another Vs. Chief State Information Commissioner U.P. and Another) decided on 18.07.2019. In the aforesaid judgment which is in the nature of an order, a preliminary objection was taken regarding maintainability of the petition by the petitioners in their official capacity. This Court had allowed the withdrawal of the writ petition giving liberty to the aggrieved Officers to assail the order passed by the Information Commissioner by way of a fresh petition.;