Committee does not fall under the category of Public Authority, Says CIC

The Central information Commission (CIC) has said that a Committee does not fall under the category of “Public Authority” as defined in the Right to Information Act, 2005.

In an appeal before the First Appellant Authority(FAA), respondent was directed to obtain the information from a committee constituted by High Court in this regard. The Committee responded that they are not bound to impart any sort of information as they do not fall under the meaning of ‘Public Authority’.

The CIC stated that: “It is pertinent to mention here that section 2(h) of the RTI Act,2005 defines the public authority. The relevant section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005 reads as follows:-

(h) “Public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted-

(a)  By or under the Constitution;

(b)  By any other law made by Parliament;

(c)  By any other law made by State Legislature;

(d) By notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government,
and includes any-

(i) Body owned, controlled or substantially financed;

(ii)Non-Government organization substantially financed,
directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;

In view of the phraseology used in the subsection above, it is amply clear that the refusal of the committee in imparting the required information on appellant’s RTI application is justified under section 2(h)(d)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005. ”

Click here for the order.