Should CAG disclose the special audit report of National Technical Research Organization?
14 May, 2013Background
Referring to some special audit done by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of the office of the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), the appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Director General of Audit (Central Expenditure) seeking some information including the details of the composition of the audit team. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information on the ground that it is related to the NTRO which is an exempted organisation from the operation of the RTI Act under section 24(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: and is placed in schedule II.
Proceedings
During the hearing the Central Information Commission (CIC), the appellant submitted that the PIO had wrongly interpreted the provisions of section 24(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: of the RTI Act. He argued that the information provided by an exempted organisation to another Central Government public authority may not be disclosed but the CAG was not a Central Government public authority being an independent Constitutional body. The CAG could not take cover under this provision and deny the information even if it had received the information from the NTRO. He also submitted that the PIO should disclose the information which had been exclusively generated in the office of the CAG. The respondents submitted that the CAG had audited the NTRO as a special case and as per the terms of an agreement between the two organisations, the report of the audit had been provided to the Secretary of the organisation and that it could not disclose the information relating to the special audit to anyone else. The appellant also invoked the proviso to section 24(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: relating to the violation of human rights and demanded that the information should be disclosed as it related to the violation of his own human rights. He claimed that some newspaper had published certain reports allowing to the special audit and casting aspersions on him thereby causing hurt and humiliation.
View of CIC
The Commission observed that the RTI Act excludes certain organisations in a qualified manner and extends the exemption even to the information provided by such organisations to other government ministries and departments and agencies. The Commission ruled that the expression Central Government in section 24(1) Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: Nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the intelligence and security organisations specified in the Second Schedule, being organisations established by the Central Government or any information furnished by such organisations to that Government: Provided that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section: includes all public authorities which receive information from the organisations included in the Second Schedule. The CAG cannot be an exception and cannot be expected to disclose the information received from the exempted organisations like the NTRO. The Commission directed the PIO to revisit the relevant records and find out if there is any information which has been exclusively generated by the CAG in respect of the appellant’s queries and provide it. The CIC also ruled that the information provided by the NTRO should not be disclosed.
The CIC further held that just because some newspaper had reported something disparaging about the appellant, it cannot be concluded that the NTRO could be held responsible for it. The allegation of human rights violation contemplated in this particular subsection should be against the exempted organisation. There is nothing to show that the NTRO or the CAG has caused any such violation. The Commission stated that there is no ground for disclosing any such information held or supplied by the NTRO.
Citation: Mr. Manuj Modi v. Director General of Audit, (Central Expenditure) and National Technical Research Organization in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/001740 & CIC/SM/A/2013/000068
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1276
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission