Issue:
Can a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005 (RTI Act) access an information pertaining to a entity which is declared to not be a Public Authority?
The RTI Applicant sought information iro the Chairpersons of Indian Bank Association (‘the IBA’), from Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
Background:
The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) denied information on the ground that, the information sought, did not rest with the
Department of Financial Services and that the applicant may approach the IBA for seeking information
At the appeal stage, Central Information Commission (CIC) accepted the contention of the CPIO that no information regarding the IBA is held with the Department of Financial Services and hence CPIO is not bound to give it.
The Applicant challenged the CIC decision before the Delhi High Court on the ground, that the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance could have taken recourse to Section 6(3) of the RTI Act and referred the RTI Applicant to the department/ the ministry, which held the information.
It was also asserted by the RTI Applicant that under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, 2005 ‘information’ relating to any private body can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force. The public authority of Department of Financial Services, in this case, should be able to access it from the IBA.
Decision of the High Court:
The High Court referred to a CIC order dated 06.08.2008 in which CIC had held that the IBA, was not a public authority and held that “Once IBA is declared as an entity which is not a public authority, the RTI Act cannot be used to access information from the IBA”. Also, besides the RTI Act, no other Law has been referred to, under which, the Department of Financial Services can seek information from IBA of the kind which the RTI Applicant seeks.
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