The societies that receive substantial funds from the governments are covered under RTI
28 Sep, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to information (RTI) Act seeking information with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) seeking some information. The Public Information Officer (PIO) transferred the RTI application to the AR Bureau. The concerned PIO there informed the appellant that the information was not held by their section and that the Institute of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers, had been requested to provide the information and the same would be communicated once received.
Proceeding
During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the PIO of MHRD submitted a written response stating that MHRD is in receipt of a letter from the Secretary General of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) which clarifies that the institute is a professional society registered under the Societies Act XXI-1860 and did not receive any funds from the Central or State governments. The PIO also submitted that it is funded by subscriptions given by its members and privately managed. The institute claimed that it did not come under the purview of the RTI Act.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) rejected the appeal observing that the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers was not a public authority in terms 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.
Citation: Mr. V. P. Pandey v. MHRD in File No.CIC/DS/A/2011/002886/RM
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/687
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission