Supreme Court Disapproves Use Of RTI Replies To Show Govt's Stand

During the hearing of a case, the Supreme Court on Thursday expressed disapproval of placing reliance on RTI replies to show the stand of the Government.

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Abhay S Oka and CT Ravikumar was hearing a batch of petitions seeking GST exemption for Haj and Umrah tour operators.

The petitioner's counsel placed reliance on certain replies furnished by the Union Government under the Right to Information Act to submit that the Government has recognzied Haj services as religious activities. The bench however said that RTI responses cannot be regarded as admisisons by the Government. The bench said that the RTI responses are based on how the questions are posed, and could be therefore misleading. The stand of the Government should come through its affidavit filed in the court.

"In all writ petitions, RTI is relied on. This is always misleading. Depending on what question is posed, based on that the answer is given. That has been our broad experience till now. RTI is not an admission of the government. The concerned authority which is required to do business of taxation should depose on affidavit that this is what we state and only then can we accept it as admission", Justice Khanwilkar orally observed.

For full account of the hearing ,refer here.

Click Here To Read/Download Order