Rohidas Kamath 10 July 2026

Faa adjudicates the appeal inspite of request to recuse

My appeals under Section 19 of RTI Act were adjudicated by the First appellate authority who was requested by me as an appellant to recuse himself from adjudicating my appeals. However the said FAA adjudicated the appeals after recording my recusal in the said order as upon receiving the said appeals this authority issued letter vide dated 01/06/2026 to appear either personally or virtually for his reply or arguments regarding these appeals on date 6th June 2026, which was duly served to applicant but he chosen to remain absent and wrote various application to this authority/department regarding recusal of the undersigned from these appeals which ws put up before the Secretary sir of department.

Iam proposing to prefer appeal before the State Information Commissioner with a request to set aside the order passed by FAA on following grounds:

1) The FAA has not provided the link for virtual hearing

2) The order passed by FAA is not a speaking order as it has not discussed the grounds of appeal of the appellant

3) The order passed by FAA is illegal and not sustainable in law as the said FAA was requested to recuse himself from adjudicating the said appeals.

4) The order of FAA says The present appeals are partly allowed without discussing about appeal and hence requires to be set aside.

I request learned readers to share their view points and request to provide valuable inputs.

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Quick Summary

An appellant requested the First Appellate Authority (FAA) to recuse himself from adjudicating their RTI appeals due to apprehension of bias. Despite this, the FAA proceeded to pass an order. The appellant plans to appeal to the State Information Commissioner, citing grounds such as the lack of a virtual hearing link, the FAA's order being non-speaking, and the failure to address the recusal request. The appellant argues the FAA's order is illegal and unsustainable.

5 Replies

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 11 July 2026

You may wait for the disposal of your appeal.

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate ) 11 July 2026

What is the basis for demanding recusal of the FAA from your appeal(s) ?

P. Venu (Advocate) 12 July 2026

Your option is in filing a the Second Appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Prateek Tigala 8219705285 (Advocate) 13 July 2026

The impugned order passed by the First Appellate Authority deserves to be set aside as being illegal, arbitrary and unsustainable in law. Firstly, although the FAA offered the option of a virtual hearing, no link or access details were provided to the appellant, thereby depriving him of an effective opportunity of being heard and violating the principles of natural justice. Secondly, the impugned order is a non-speaking order as it neither considers nor adjudicates upon the specific grounds raised in the first appeal, nor records any reasons for accepting or rejecting the appellant's contentions, despite the settled principle that a quasi-judicial authority is bound to pass a reasoned order. Thirdly, despite the appellant's specific request seeking the recusal of the FAA on the ground of a reasonable apprehension of bias, the FAA proceeded to adjudicate the appeals himself without passing any independent order on the recusal request or assigning reasons for rejecting the same, thereby rendering the decision vulnerable on the touchstone of fairness and impartiality. Lastly, although the operative portion of the impugned order states that the appeals are "partly allowed," it fails to specify which reliefs have been granted, which have been rejected, the reasons for such conclusions, or the consequential directions, if any, making the order vague, incapable of effective implementation, and indicative of non-application of mind. Consequently, the impugned order suffers from arbitrariness, violation of the principles of natural justice, failure to exercise appellate jurisdiction in accordance with law, and absence of reasons, and therefore deserves to be quashed and set aside with appropriate directions for fresh adjudication in accordance with law.

1 Like

Rohidas Kamath 13 July 2026

super clarifications sir. Thanks for your very very valuable opinion. You observation will add more value and weigthage to my appeal.