Anti-dumping confidentiality prevails over RTI disclosure where specialised statutory rules protect sensitive record material.

A specialised anti-dumping confidentiality regime under the Customs Tariff Act and the 1995 Rules prevailed over a general RTI request for note sheets and related material. Rule 7 protects confidential information and allows disclosure only within the statutory anti-dumping mechanism, while section 22 of the RTI Act overrides only to the extent of real inconsistency. Because the requested records formed part of a quasi-judicial anti-dumping file and included commercially sensitive material, the RTI framework could not be used to bypass the specific disclosure procedure. The Delhi HC therefore upheld confidentiality and set aside the CIC direction for disclosure.

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Issues: Whether the note sheet and other information generated in anti-dumping proceedings could be compelled to be disclosed under the Right to Information Act, 2005 despite the confidentiality scheme under the anti-dumping rules.

Analysis: The anti-dumping regime under the Customs Tariff Act and the 1995 Rules contains a self-contained mechanism governing disclosure, confidentiality, and non-confidential summaries. Rule 7 protects information furnished on a confidential basis and permits disclosure only with authorisation, while Section 22 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 overrides only to the extent of inconsistency. The Court held that there was no such inconsistency here, because the information sought formed part of a specialised quasi-judicial anti-dumping record and included commercially sensitive material. The RTI authorities lacked the specialised expertise to decide confidentiality questions in that setting, and the applicant could not bypass the statutory anti-dumping procedure by resorting to the RTI Act.

Conclusion: The note sheet and confidential material in the anti-dumping file were not liable to disclosure under the RTI Act, and the challenge to the CIC's direction succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a specialised statutory regime expressly protects confidential material and provides its own disclosure mechanism, the general right to information cannot be used to defeat that confidentiality framework unless a real inconsistency exists.

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