Is Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization a public authority under RTI?
4 Jan, 2013Background
The appellant had filed petitions filed before the Secretary Rural Development and the Ministry of Rural Development regarding termination of his service from Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) where he was employed. Later, he filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) seeking information regarding action taken on the petitions filed by him. The Public Information Officer (PIO) informed the appellant that the information sought by him pertained to administrative matter of AARDO which is not a Public Authority within the meaning of section 2(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;
of the RTI Act. Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent stated that AARDO is an autonomous inter-governmental organization having 29 Member countries from Africa and South Asia. India was President of AARDO represented by the Minister (RD) for triennium 2009-2011. All member countries contribute membership annual subscription for running of the Organization. The respondent further explained that the matter has been heard by Secretary (RD) in his capacity as President of the Executive Committee of AARDO and after a final hearing a compromise has been arrived and the matter has been settled between both the parties.
View of CIC
The Commission noted that the matter between the appellant and AARDO has been settled and no action is called for on the part of the Commission.
Citation: Mr. P.K. Sasidharan v. Ministry of Rural Development in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2012/001788
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/934
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission