Disclosure of information related to the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 under RTI

Background

The appellant sought various information related to the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided partial information and refused to disclose the copy of submissions/representations filed by all stakeholders before the Parliamentary Standing Committee under section 8(1)(c) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature; of the RTI Act. The Appellate Authority (FAA) endorsed the PIO’s decision and also informed the appellant that the Bill was pending before the Rajya Sabha.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that since the Parliamentary Standing Committee had not submitted its report to the Parliament at the time of the RTI application, any disclosure would have constituted breach of privilege of the Parliament. As the report has been placed before the Parliament when the case came up for hearing before the Commission, the PIO was directed to disclose the submissions and representations made before the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

Citation: Mr. Tony Paul v. Rajya Sabha Secretariat in File No. CIC/SM/A/2011/001317