CHANDIGARH HIGH COURT: Punjab & Haryana High Court in a landmark judgment, with large ramifications on awards granted for social service and sports, has directed the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to 'disclose the information available in the proforma for Recommending NSS Volunteers for National Indira Gandhi NSS Awards along with the documents appended in support of the respective columns to the petitioner'.
The Petitioner Jainarayan Jakhar of Hisar District , suspecting foul play in granting National Indira Gandhi NSS Awards to the students, in the month of December, 2014 had sought the material considered by the Ministry for eligibility and performance evaluation for granting Indira Gandhi NSS awards to the two students of the Bhagat Phool Singh Memorial Girls College, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat. However, officers of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports; as well as Central Information Commission denied the requisite information on the ground that the third party, i.e., the two girls had objected to the disclosure of their personal information to any person.
On denial of the information the Petitioner through his Advocate Pardeep Rapria challenged the decision of CIC and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports before the High Court. The counsel for the Petitioner argued before the HC that the citizens have a Fundamental Right to have access to the material considered by the Ministry for conferring the State Largesse on an individual. The citizens being masters of State Largesse have every right to access the material considered by the Ministry for granting benefits to the individuals.
However, the Counsel for the Ministry argued that "the petitioner has not disclosed the reason as to why he requires the said information and what is the public interest involved in his seeking such information. His submission is that the information which is being sought by the petitioner is not a bona fide request on his part and therefore, he has rightly been declined of the information...and further, the
petitioner has not pointed out any bona fide requirement which would call upon him or justify his seeking information as is being sought."
However, Justice AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH of the High Court overruled the arguments of the Counsel for Ministry and in his judgment reproduced the information sought by the Petitioner which is a part of proforma for Recommending NSS Volunteers for National Indira Gandhi NSS Awards, reads as follows:-
In the light of the request for disclosure of the sought for information the HC held that, "The Mere objection on the part of the third party cannot be made the basis for denying the information to be supplied to the petitioner because a final decision has to be taken by the PIO/Competent Authority. An independent decision had to be taken by the Public Information Officer or the Appellate Authority" The HC further held that "This Court is satisfied that the same would not fall within the preview of the provisions as contained in Section 8 (1) (j) or Section 11 (1) of the RTI Act" (these section grants exemption from disclosure of personal and third party information)
The judgment of the High Court will have far reaching implications in ensuring the transparency and accountability in granting several awards like Padma Awards, Social Awards, NSS awards. Very often there is heart-burn among the candidates who dont get award.
The complete judgment dated: 11.09.2018 in CWP-24219-2015 titled JAINARAYAN JAKHAR Vs. CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION & ORS. made available now; may be read from the website of the Punjab & Haryana High Court.
No comments:
Post a Comment