Supreme Court orders for disclosure of structural drawing of the metro pillar under RTI

Following the July 2009 collapse of a Metro corridor pillar No 67 at Zamrudpur in South Delhi in which six persons had died, an application was filed under the RTI Act seeking copies of the structural drawing of the pillar. Information sought included copies of all the structural drawings of the foundation and the superstructure, including all steel reinforcement details, engineering calculations and soil tests pertaining to the cantilevered bracket of the pillar that had collapsed. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) had denied the information claiming it to be commercially confidential information revelation of which was harmful for security reasons too. The denial of information by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) was rejected by the Central Information Commission (CIC) and the High Court too, upheld the CIC order.

Now the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by DMRC challenging the order of the Delhi High Court to make public information on its structural drawings under Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Apex Court rejected the argument of threat to national security in revealing information on the corporation's structural drawings.