Right to information available to non-citizens too; denial would be against Constitutional principles: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Monday held that the Right to Information (RTI) is available to citizens of India as well as non-citizens, and that denying the same to the latter would be contrary to the Constitution of India as well as the RTI Act [AS Rawat v. Dawa Tashi]..Justice Prathiba M Singh said that Section 3 of the RTI Act, which says that “all citizens have the right to information” would have to be read as a positive recognition of the right in favour of citizens, but not as a prohibition against non-citizens.“Creating an absolute bar [against non-citizens] would be contrary to the purpose and object of the RTI Act itself, and such an absolute bar cannot be read into the RTI Act,” the Court underscored..However, it clarified that the disclosure of information to non-citizens would depend on the kind of information sought and the recognition of the rights guaranteed to such class of persons under the Constitution of India.“Whenever information is sought by non-citizens, considering that the rights conferred under Section 3 [RTI Act] is positively upon citizens, it would be on the discretion of the authorities to disclose such information or not,” the order stated..The Court was hearing a plea by one AS Rawat who was posted as Public Information Officer (PIO) at Central Tibetan Schools Administration (CTSA). Rawat challenged an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) imposing a penalty of ₹2,500 on him.The penalty was imposed after the PIO denied information to a teacher named Dawa Tashi, who had sought information regarding his confirmation letter as well as other benefits from the CTSA.The information was denied on the grounds that Tashi was a Tibetan national. In its order, the CIC ordered the PIO to furnish the information to the applicant and imposed a penalty on him, terming his conduct mala fide..After considering the case and examining the Parliamentary Committee debates on the RTI Act as well as the provisions of the Right to Information Bill, Justice Singh noted that the terms such as ‘citizen’, ‘people’, ‘persons’ have been used interchangeably.The Court said that the Constitution not only confers a large gamut of rights upon Indian citizens, but also a smaller bouquet of rights to non-citizens. Therefore, considering that the RTI Act also accords information relating to life and liberty, it would be inherently contradictory to hold that only citizens are entitled to the Right to Information.“The view of the Parliamentary Committee which discussed the Bill and favored retention of the right only to citizens appears to have been based on a misconception that Fundamental Rights under the Constitution are only available to citizens, which was a wrong premise. Thus, this Court is of the opinion that the Right to Information ought to be available to citizens and non-citizens depending upon the kind of information which is sought and the recognition of the rights guaranteed to such class of persons under the Constitution of India.”.While the Court upheld the orders of the CIC regarding supply of point-wise information, it set aside the direction for imposition of penalty..Advocates Jyoti Dutt Sharma, CK Bhatt and Ayush Bhatt appeared for the petitioner.None appeared for the respondents. .[Read Order]