Mere Presidential reference to the Supreme Court not a ground for denial
21 Dec, 2011
Background
The Appellant sought the copies of several documents relating to the representation of the Chairman and Members of the Haryana Public Service Commission. The PIO informed him that since the matter was pending before the Supreme Court on a Presidential reference, no information could be given.
View of the CIC
The Commission held that the desired information should have been disclosed since there was no express direction from the Supreme Court not to disclose the information until further orders. It was informed by the respondents that the matter has since been decided by the Supreme Court and nothing is pending. The Commission directed the PIO to provide the copies of the desired documents to the Appellant, within 10 working days.
Comments
Pendency of a case before a court of law is not one of the grounds listed in Section 8 of the RTI Act for denying any information.
Citation: Shri Aditya Kumar Chaudhary v. Department of Personnel & Training in File No.CIC/WB/A/2010/000589SM