Case Law Details
Union Of India And Anr Vs. Central Information Commission And Anr (Delhi High Court)
1. The petitioner (Union of India) has filed the present petition, inter alia, impugning an order dated 12.03.2016 (hereafter ‘the impugned order‘) passed by the Central Information Commission (hereafter ‘CIC‘). By the impugned order, the CIC has declared “the Ministers in the Union Government and all State Governments as ‘public authorities’ under Section 2(h) of Right to Information Act, 2005”.
2. The CIC has further issued directions to Central and State Governments to provide the necessary support to each Minister including designating some officers or appointing the said officers as Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities. The CIC has also directed that Ministers be given an official website for suo moto disclosure of information with periodical updating as prescribed under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereafter ‘the Act‘). The CIC has also recommended that the oath of secrecy which is required to be taken by the Ministers be replaced with the oath of transparency.
3. Briefly stated, the relevant facts are that respondent no. 2 filed an application dated 20.11.2014 before the Additional Private Secretary, Minister of Law and Justice, Government of India seeking the following information:-
“Time period of Hon’ble Minister or Minister of State‟s meeting the General Public has not been issued by the Ministry. If issued, its details and time to provide in Hindi and English language.”
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