Seeking details of promoters not listed in stock exchanges using RTI
17 Nov, 2012Background
The appellant filed two applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seeking variety of information such as copies of the latest balance sheets supplied by the credit rating agencies including their subsidiaries; copy of any letter of approval the SEBI might have issued in favour of the six credit rating agencies for creating subsidiaries; copies of some other records concerning credit rating agencies, like details of the promoters not listed in stock exchanges etc. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided some information while observing that some other items of information were not available or that the queries did not amount to information within the meaning of it under section 2(f). He denied the details of the promoters provided by some of the credit rating agencies not listed in stock exchanges stating that this information is held in commercial confidence.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that only a few of the queries of the appellant would merit response as several others were clearly in the nature of seeking opinion/confirmation from the PIO. The CIC held that if the credit rating agencies are supposed to give the details of the promoters not listed in stock exchanges to the SEBI in compliance of any legal or statutory requirement and if such information forms the basis on which the SEBI allows those entities to operate, then such information has to be disclosed under the RTI Act. The Commission directed the PIO to provide the above information to the appellant.
Citation: Mr. Vipin Malik v. Securities Exchange Board of India in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/000362 & 1046
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/806
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission