In a move that might have far reaching consequences towards creating transparency and accountability in the legal system, the Delhi High Court has ruled that the office of the Attorney General will be covered under the ambit of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). The decision came in view of the writ petition filed by an RTI Activist, Mr. Subhash Chandra Agrawal, which was against the order passed by the full bench of Central Information Commission (CIC) wherein it had held that the office of Attorney General was not a public authority under the RTI Act.
1. Mr. R.K Jain had filed an application on January 7, 2013 with the office of the Attorney General of India (herein after the “AGI” being the Respondent) seeking information under the RTI Act. The said application was returned stating that as per the decision of the CIC, the office of the AGI is not a “Public Authority”.
2. Mr. Subhash Chandra Agrawal (herein after the “Petitioner”) had also filed an application on November 15, .2011 addressed to the CPIO office of the AGI seeking certain information under the RTI Act. The office declined to accept the application and informed the Petitioner, “There is no CPIO in AGI’s Office”.
3. The Petitioner then filed a complaint under Section 18 of the RTI Act and approached the CIC. The CIC vide order dated December 10, 2002 (the “Impugned Order”) rejected the complaint filed by the Petitioner and decided against him. The CIC was of the view that the AGI was only a person and could not be considered as an “authority” and hence fell outside the scope of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
4. It was against the abovementioned order passed by the CIC that the Petitioner approached this Hon’ble Court.
1. Whether the office of Attorney General of India is a “Public Authority” within the meaning of section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005?
"76. Attorney-General for India.-(1) The President shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court to be Attorney-General for India.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Attorney-General to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the President, and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under this Constitution or any other law for the time being in force.
(3) In the performance of his duties the Attorney-General shall have right of audience in all courts in the territory of India.
(4) The Attorney-General shall hold office during the pleasure of the President, and shall receive such remuneration as the President may determine."
5. However, the court didn’t focus on the issue of the disclosure of the information if the same falls under the ambit of the exceptions listed in Section 8 of the RTI Act.