Name of lawyers who represented the AICF in court cases was denied u/s 8(1)(d) stating that there was no larger public interest warranting the disclosure - CIC: not established that disclosure would harm the competitive position of a third party
10 Feb, 2014Name of lawyers who represented the AICF in court cases was denied u/s 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; stating that there was no larger public interest warranting the disclosure – CIC: respondent have not established that disclosure of this information would harm the competitive position of a third party, consideration of whether larger public interest warrants the disclosure of this information is not relevant; section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; cannot be invoked in this case, provide information
ORDER
1. According to the appeal, the Appellant had filed an RTI application in March 2013 seeking information on four points about the name of lawyers who represented the AICF in court cases. The CPIO vide his letter dated 3rd April 2013 denied the information invoking section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act, 2005. An appeal was filed to the FAA on 21.4.2013 and he upheld the decision of the CPIO vide his order dated 21.5.2013. Not satisfied with the order of the FAA, the Appellant has approached the CIC in second appeal.
2. We heard the submissions of the Appellant and the Respondents. The Appellant submitted that he was entitled to the information sought by him. On being asked about the grounds on which they had invoked Section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; , the Respondents said that there was no larger public interest warranting the disclosure of this information. They did not put forth any grounds to establish that disclosure of this information would harm the competitive position of a third party, which is essential to invoke Section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; . Since they have not established that disclosure of this information would harm the competitive position of a third party, consideration of whether larger public interest warrants the disclosure of this information is not relevant. Section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; cannot, therefore, be invoked in this case. Accordingly, the CPIO is directed to provide the information sought by the Appellant in his RTI application within 15 days of the receipt of this order.
3. With the above direction, the appeal is disposed of.
(Sharat Sabharwal)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Gurpreet Pal Singh v. All India Chess Federation in File No. CIC/LS/A/2013/001412/SH