Occupancy status of Tourism hotels during Indo- Pak World Cup semi-final Cricket match

Background

The applicant filed an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Chandigarh Industrial & Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (CITCO), seeking information regarding the total occupancy at three hotels, under the Corporation at Chandigarh, for certain duration . The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under 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; of the RTI Act. During the hearing, the appellant stated that the three days for which he had sought information were when the India Pakistan World Cup semi final match was played at Mohali and that large number of people was denied bookings in these three hotels. PIO submitted that he had received directions from the Ministry of External Affairs to hold accommodation for a large contingent of guests accompanying the Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India along with other VVIPs and that time they had to move out some of their guests who were already occupying rooms in these hotels to hostel accommodation.

View of CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the PIO to provide in writing the information given verbally to the Commission at the hearing. The Commission also asked the PIO to provide the proof of payment made by the Ministry of External Affairs for the rooms booked by them in the three hotels.

Citation: Mr. Aseem Takyar v. Chandigarh Industrial & Tourism, Dev. Corp. Ltd. in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2011/002736