TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (2) TMI 1332
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....r is a Society registered under the provisions of the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. It has two educational institutions, imparting education. It is claimed that there are 700 students taking education in the Secondary and Higher Secondary school, run by the petitioner, at Sakali, Tal. Yawal, Dist. Jalgaon. Respondent No. 4 is a person unconnected with the petitioner trust and any of its institutions. 4. The petitioner submits that several persons have, as on date, moved applications before it under the R.T.I. Act. On 03/01/2011, respondent No.4 moved an application seeking vague and voluminous uncalled for information from the petitioner. Respondent No.4 has no connection with the information sought. The petitioner claims that it is not a Public Authority as per the provisions of Section 2(h) of the R.T.I. Act. The petitioner, therefore, finds itself unduly harassed and bothered on account of such applications. 5. In the light of the above, the petitioner has put forth the following prayers : " (A) By issuing appropriate writ, order, direction or any other appropriate order in the nature of writ, the Hon'ble High Court may be pleased to quash and set aside the provi....
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....'ble Supreme Court in the case of Central Board of Secondary Education and Another Vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay and others, reported at 2011(8) SCC 497. Paragraph Nos. 12 to 25, 59, 62, 63, 66 and 67 of the said judgment are reproduced thus :" 12. To consider these questions, it is necessary to refer to the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Preamble and the relevant provisions of the R.T.I. Act. The R.T.I. Act was enacted in order to ensure smoother, greater and more effective access to information and provide an effective framework for effectuating the right to information recognized under Article 19 of the Constitution. The Preamble to the Act declares the object sought to be achieved by the R.T.I. Act thus : "An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Whereas the Constitution of India has established democratic r....
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....ormation including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisifed that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; (e) information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information ; (f) information received in confidence from foreign Government; (g) information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes; (h) information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; (i) cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers; Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been t....
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....n 11 deals with the thirdparty information and subsection (1) thereof is extracted below: 11 "Third party information - (1) Where a Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose any information or record, or part thereof on a request made under this Act, which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by that third party, the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, shall, within five days from the receipt of the request, give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, intends to disclose the information or record, or part thereof, and invite the third party to make a submission in writing or orally, regarding whether the information should be disclosed, and such submission of the third party shall be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information: Provided that except in the case of trade or commercial secrets protected by law, disclosure may be allowed if t....
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....ing inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act." 20. It will also be useful to refer to a few decisions of this Court which considered the importance and scope of the right to information. In State of U.P. Vs. Raj Narain (1997) 4 (SCC pp.31314 paras 1617) , this Court observed : (SCC p.453, para 74) "74. In a Government of responsibility like ours, where all the agents of the public must be responsible for their conduct, there can be but few secrets. The people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way, by their public functionaries. They are entitled to know the particulars of every public transaction in all its bearing. The right to know, which is derived from the concept of freedom of speech, though not absolute, is a factor which should make one wary, when secrecy is claimed for transactions which can, at any rate, have no repercussion on public security." (emphasis supplied) 21. In Dinesh Trivedi Vs. Union of India, this Court held : "16.....
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.... accountable to the citizens, by providing them access to information regarding functioning of every public authority. 25. Certain safeguards have been built into the Act so that the revelation of information will not conflict with other public interests which include efficient operation of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and preservation of confidential and sensitive information. The R.T.I. Act provides access to information held by or under the control of public authorities and not in regard to information held by any private person. The Act provides for the following exclusions by way of exemptions and exceptions (under Sections 8, 9 and 24) in regard to information held by the public authorities : (i) Exclusion of the Act in entirety under Section 24 to intelligence and security organizations specified in the Second Schedule even though they may be "public authorities" (except in regard to information with reference to allegations of corruption and human rights violations). (ii) Exemption of the several categories of information enumerated in Section 8(1) of the Act which no public authority is under an obligation to give to any cit....
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....does not conflict with several other public interests (which includes efficient operations of the governments, preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information, optimum use of limited fiscal resources, etc.), it is difficult to visualise and enumerate all types of information which require to be exempted from disclosure in public interest. The legislature has however made an attempt to do so. The enumeration of exemptions is more exhaustive than the enumeration of exemptions attempted in the earlier Act that is section 8 of Freedom to Information Act, 2002. The Courts and Information Commissions enforcing the provisions of RTI Act have to adopt a purposive construction, involving a reasonable and balanced approach which harmonises the two objects of the Act, while interpreting section 8 and the other provisions of the Act. 63. At this juncture, it is necessary to clear some misconceptions about the RTI Act. The RTI Act provides access to all information that is available and existing. This is clear from a combined reading of section 3 and the definitions of 'information' and 'right to information' under clauses (f) and (j) of section 2 of the Act. If a public autho....
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....of the administration and result in the executive getting bogged down with the non-productive work of collecting and furnishing information. The Act should not be allowed to be misused or abused, to become a tool to obstruct the national development and integration, or to destroy the peace, tranquility and harmony among its citizens. Nor should it be converted into a tool of oppression or intimidation of honest officials striving to do their duty. The nation does not want a scenario where 75% of the staff of public authorities spends 75% of their time in collecting and furnishing information to applicants instead of discharging their regular duties. The threat of penalties under the RTI Act and the pressure of the authorities under the RTI Act should not lead to employees of a public authorities prioritizing 'information furnishing', at the cost of their normal and regular duties. 9. In the case of Chief Information Commissioner and Another Vs. State of Manipur and another, reported at AIR 2012, SC 864, it is held that : 11. It is, therefore, clear from the ratio in the above decisions of the Constitution Bench of this Court that the right to information, which is basic....
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....torily recognised but Section 6 gives the said right to any person. Therefore, Section 6, in a sense, is wider in its ambit than Section 3. 10. In the case of Public Information Officer and another Vs. Manohar Parrikar and another, reported at 2012(1) Bom.C.R. 558, it is held as under in paragraph No. 12 :" 12. Section 3 of the RTI Act confers upon a citizen right to have an information. Indeed, it only recognizes the right which already exists in a citizen to have an information which is regarded as a fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of The Constitution [See: (Central Public Information Officer Vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal) 2010, DGLS (soft) 2314 : (2011) S.C.C. 496 and the (Hindu Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd., Vs. The State Information Commission) - Civil Writ Petition No.19224 of 2006 decided on 9th May, 2010 by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Coram : Mohinder Singh Sullar, J.] Section 4 of the RTI Act confers a corresponding obligation on the public authority to give information. Section 5 of the RTI Act request the public authority to designate as many PIOs as may be necessary to provide the information ....
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.... petitioner and in the light of the observations of the Apex Court and our Court in the judgments referred above (supra), we are unable to accept the contentions of the petitioner for reasons more than one. Firstly, that the petitioner has rushed to this Court claiming a relief against a private individual respondent No.4. Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and 5 appear to have been arrayed so as to render the matter maintainable under the writ jurisdiction of this Court. Secondly, the petitioner needs to test its contention that it is not a public Authority u/s 2(h) of the R.T.I. Act. 13. The petitioner needs to take a specific stand under the provisions of the Act while dealing with the application of respondent No.4. Instead of rushing to this Court, the petitioner should first deal with the application filed by respondent No.4, which is pending before it. It's decision will always be subject to judicial scrutiny under the Act. 14. By this judgment, we are not expressing a view that any application, seeking any information, ought to be accepted by an Establishment and the information sought should be given to the applicant. Every authority has the scope to look into the application fi....
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.... 1. Every public authority shall- a. maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated; b. publish within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of this Act,- i. the particulars of its organisation, functions and duties; ii. the powers and duties of its officers and employees; iii. the procedure followed in the decision making process, including channels of supervision and accountability; iv. the norms set by it for the discharge of its functions; v. the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharging its functions; vi. a statement of the categories of documents that are held by it or under its control; vii. the particulars of any arrangement that exists for consu....