Demand for the statute under which the cooperative societies are registered
29 Mar, 2013Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Supreme Court of India seeking to know the exact statute under which the cooperative societies were registered and whether such societies were public authorities. The Public Information Officer (PIO) stated that opinion or advice could not be provided as the appellant’s queries were not covered under information as defined under section 2(f) “information” means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force; of the RTI Act.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the PIO of the Supreme Court of India cannot offer any advice on the queries raised by the appellant in his RTI application. The CIC held that the exact laws of various states under which the cooperative societies are registered can be found out from the cooperative departments of the respective States. Whether a cooperative society is a public authority under the RTI Act is to be adjudicated by the State or the Central Information Commission not by the PIO of the Supreme Court of India. The Commission rejected the appeal stating that the PIO cannot offer any such opinion under the RTI Act.
Citation: Mr. S N Saran Kothiwal v. Supreme Court of India in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/001456
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1159
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