Disclosure of the Censor board approval under RTI for a collection of songs

Background

The appellant claimed that an unauthorized person got the approval of Censor board for a collection of songs. He attached a script of songs, audio cassette and the video album made by the alleged unauthorized person and sought the name of the unauthorized person with address. The Public Information Officer (PIO) stated that the certificate is mandatory in this matter and since the certificate issued by the Central Board of Films Certification (CBFC) is not enclosed, the information cannot be provided. He also informed the appellant that if the video is sold in the market without the certificate, then it can be declared illegal.

Proceedings

The appellant submitted before the Central Information Commission (CIC) that he had sent the lyrics of the song and the PIO must identify the film since Central Board of Films Certification (CBFC) has the lyrics of the song as well. The PIO informed that since the CD/ DVD sent by the appellant did not have any censorship certificate, it was not possible to know whether this was ever certified by CBFC as over 6000 such CD/DVD are passed every year.

View of CIC

The Commission rejected the appeal observing that since the CBFC passes over 6000 short films in a year, it would not be possible for them to identify the particular film and comment on whether it was passed by CBFC or not, in the absence of the certificate.

Citation: Mr. Dinesh Srivastav v. Central Board of Films Certification in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2012/000147/18128