Should a Public Authority obtain information from a private body to provide to RTI applicant?
6 Feb, 2013Background
The appellant’s husband, her father-in law and mother-in-law were treated at Metro Multispecialty Hospital and Metro Hospital and Heart Institute, both of them being on Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) panel. The appellant’s husband is working as a Sub Inspector in Delhi Police. The appellant’s husband had submitted medical bills to the Police Department but some of these bills were not passed, rather, departmental action was initiated against him. In this connection, the appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) seeking copies of the medical slips regarding the treatment undergone by her husband, father-in-law and mother-in law. She specifically requested for OPD records, inpatient records, pharmacy records and the records relating to radiology and pathology tests.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the CGHS authorities are empowered to call for the abovementioned information from these hospitals as per the 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; “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 which provides that ‘information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force’. The Commission directed the Public Information Officer (PIO) to collect the abovementioned information from the hospitals and provide it to the appellant.
Comment
The term information has been defined in 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; “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 which states that "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. As per this definition, if any public authority can obtain information from private body under any other law, then it may be accessed and provided to the information seeker.
Citation: Mr. Santosh Tyagi v. Central Government Health Scheme in File No. CIC/LS/A/2012/002517
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2013/CIC/1023
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