Recused First appellate authority adjudicates the appeals

Question

► My appeals under Section 19 of RTI Act were adjudicated by the First Appellate authority who was requested by me as appellant to recuse himself from adjudicating my appeals. However the said FAA adjudicated the appeals after recording my recusal in the 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 was put up before the Secretary Sir of department. I am proposing to file second appeal before the State Information Commissioner with a request to set aside the orders passed by FAA on the ground that the said FAA has passed the order inspite of request to recuse from adjudicating the appeals. Hope my action is as per law. Is there any provision under BNS to prosecute the said FAA. Request valuable advice from experts.

Answer 1

Dear Client,

I understand your issue and would like to give you my expert opinion. As per your query, there is no provision under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to prosecute an FAA just because he dismissed a recusal request and adjudicated the appeal, and Section 396 BNS clearly supports this statement.

The proper way to challenge this administrative order would be to apply for judicial review or an appeal. You can obviously file for a second appeal under Section 19 (3) of the RTI Act, before the State Information Commissioner and can pray to set aside the FAA Order because it failed to follow the principle of Natural Justice by ignoring the valid recusal report and decided the case when the conflict was ongoing, and you can further request for a fresh hearing in a higher authority or also request the State Information Commissioner to examine the RTI application given by you and disclose the said information.

For further Legal Assistance, you can contact the OLQ LAW FIRM

Recused First appellate authority adjudicates the appeals

1 Answer