RTI application seeking information regarding working of NFDC
12 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the National Film Development Corporation Ltd (NFDC) seeking information regarding various aspects of the working of the NFDC including the pay and perks of the Chairman, release orders issued by it to various TV channels, the criteria followed in allocating work to TV channels and the percentage of work given to various TV channels. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied information 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; of the RTI Act stating that it was of commercial confidence in nature.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that all the information sought by the appellant cannot be classified as being of commercial confidence. The CIC directed the PIO to provide to the appellant the desired information barring the ones which were of commercial confidence.
Citation: Mr. Anil Agarwal v. National Film Development Corporation Ltd. in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/000893
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/954
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission