Disclosure of details of export of minerals in excel format
17 Feb, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Office of the Commissioner of Customs seeking the copies of the exporter-wise shipping bills or export details covering the export of Garnet, Ilemenite, Zircon and Rutile in break bulk and containers from Thoothududi port to various countries. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the particulars called for in respect of export of these minerals could not be generated separately sub-heading-wise in the ICES 1.5 system. The PIO submitted that the daily trade reports on export were readily available and the said particulars had been copied in one CD. The PIO requested the appellant to send the charges of Rs. 50/- for getting the information in soft copy.
Proceedings
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the PIO submitted that even before the stipulated 30 days period, the appellant filed a first appeal on 28.5.2011 with the Assistant Commissioner who is actually the PIO (and not the FAA) stating that no reply was received. Then on 7.6.2011, the appellant sent a DD for Rs. 50/- towards the cost of the CD for the information. On 28.10.2011, the appellant sent another letter of appeal that the exporter-wise details of each and every mineral separately was not furnished and appeal dated 28.5.2011 may be modified accordingly. On 30.11.2011, another letter of appeal was received from the appellant reiterating the same points in the letter dated 28.10.2011.
The PIO informed that available particulars except for the export-wise, shipping bill wise details were furnished in the PDF format on 30.5.2010 and 16.2.2011 while the appellant insisted on sending on Microsoft Excel format.
The PIO referred to another RTI application of the appellant seeking details of copies of shipping bill details covering export of Garnet and Ilmenite covering the period 2000 to 2004 of Beach Mineral Company Pvt. Ltd., Tirunelveli. It was rejected under section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information 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 satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information 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 satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act which was upheld by the CIC in case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/000539 dated 2.8.2012.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the requisite information permissible under the RTI Act has been provided to the appellant. The CIC further added that the copies of the exporter-wise shipping bills or export details was exempt under the provisions of section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information 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 satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information 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 satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act.
Comments
There is no obligation under the RTI Act to furnish information including commercial confidence or trade secrets, disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of the exporter.
Citation: Mr. D. Dahya Devadas v. Office of the Commissioner of Customs in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/0001747
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1056
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