Procuring list of companies which have been issued UAS license under RTI

Background

The appellant sought list of companies that were issued UAS licenses from 2003 to 2007 and copies of letters written by the Department of Tele-communications (DoT) to such companies between the date of their applications and award of licenses requiring information about their eligibility, share holding pattern and equity capital structure, free holding and details of promoters and Directors. He also sought the copies of office orders passed on such replies by DoT. The Public Information Officer (PIO) provided part information but denied the rest under section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; & 8(1)(h) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Proceedings

During the hearing before the Central Information Commission (CIC), the respondent referred to the Commission’s earlier decision dated 20.3.2012 in File No. CIC/LS/A/2011/003529 (Rajiv Chandrasekhar v. DoT)  and submitted that the entire records relating to this matter have been handed over to the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the Lok Sabha Secretariat where the matter is presently pending and requested information is barred from disclosure 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.

View of CIC

Referring to the decision discussed above, the Central Information Commission (CIC) rejected the appeal observing that ratio of the above decision also applies in the present case.

Citation: Mr. Deepak Saluja v. Department of Tele-communications in File No. CIC/LS/A/2012/000424 and File No. CIC/LS/A/2012/000425