TRIPURA HIGH COURT ISSUES ORDER ON SRI RAJESH DAS V/S TRIPURA INFORMATION COMMISSION AND ORS.

AGARTALA, India, March 11 -- Tripura High Court issued the following order/judgement on Feb. 10:

1. This Writ Petition is filed by the petitioner contending that he had sought certain information through applications dt.01.11.2019 and 02.11.2019 from the SPIO of the Society for Tripura Medical College and Dr. BRAM Teaching Hospital, Hapania, but they had not supplied the information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 ["the Act", for short] to him on the specious ground that the said Society is a private organization.

2. Thereafter, he had filed a Complaint No.10/2020-21 under Section 18 of the Act before the Tripura Information Commission, to direct the said Society to appoint SPIO and First Appellate Authority under the Act, and thereafter the Society did appoint an SPIO and First Appellate Authority under the Act.

3. But the complaint of the petitioner in TIC No.10/2021 is still continuing to be pending before the Tripura Information Commissioner, and the information sought by him, has not been furnished in spite of the pendency of the RTI requests dt.01.11.2019 and 02.11.2019 by the Society concerned.

4. The record reveals that in the order dt.25.03.2017 in Complaint No.TIC-19 of 2016-17 filed by a third party against the same Society, the plea of the Society that it is not a "public authority" as defined in Section 2(h) of the Act was in fact rejected, and the said Society was held to be a "public authority" covered by the said Act, and a direction was given to the Society to nominate an SPIO and a First Appellate Authority under the Act, and a further direction was also given that on such appointment, the SPIO so nominated, shall dispose of the RTI application of the said third party as per the provisions of the Act.

5. It appears that the Society challenged it in CRP No.106/2017, but then withdrew the said Revision, which was disposed of on 15.05.2018 as infructuous.

6. To the complaint made by the petitioner herein to the Tripura Information Commission on 22.09.2020, on 06.11.2020 the said Commission had directed the Society to appoint SPIO/First Appellate Authority to deal with RTI matters, and also to respond the RTI requests of the petitioner.

7. The petitioner had then approached the Society on 09.11.2020 with a copy of the said order.

8. Thereafter, the Tripura Information Commission passed an order on 24.02.2021 giving opportunity to the Society to file an affidavit to state that it is not a "public authority".

9. Thereafter, the matter continues to be pending with the Information Commission. Therefore, the petitioner was forced to approach this Court.

10. In the Counter Affidavit filed by the Society to this Writ Petition, the Society again sought to re-agitate the issue that it is not a "public authority" in spite of the previous order passed by the Tripura Information Commission on 25.03.2017, which order is still subsisting.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=I1mmm2bl4r4EREhYK63Kv4kveOdIq3FiacRScgUUVEIhY0IGZJY999GpXBmiRpXa&caseno=WP(C)/51/2026&cCode=1&cino=TRHC010001052026&state_code=20&appFlag=)

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