The Asian Age: New Delhi: Wednesday, March 21, 2012.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s plea to allow it not to make public the information on its structural drawings and planning on grounds of national security.
“The Special Leave Petition is dismissed,” said a bench of justices P. Sathasivam and J. Chelameswar, while dismissing DMRC plea against the Delhi high court order to it to make public its structural drawing in the wake of the July 2009 collapse of a metro corridor pillar at Zamrudpur in south Delhi killing six persons.
The apex court rejected DMRC plea upholding the high court’s ruling that there was no threat to national security in making public the information on its structural drawings under the RTI Act.
The high court had given its order on the plea by a Delhi architect Sudhir Vohra.
The DMRC had challenged the August 1, 2011 judgement of the high court’s division bench which had upheld single judge bench order endorsing the CIC’s March 2010 order to disclose information on the issue.
The architect had filed an application under the RTI Act asking the DMRC to give him all structural drawings of both the pile foundation and the superstructure, including all steel reinforcement details, foundation details, engineering calculations and soil tests pertaining to the cantilevered bracket of Metro Pillar No. 67 which had collapsed on July 12, 2009 resulting in the death of six persons and injury to many others.
The DMRC had said it was not only for the security reasons but also for the commercial considerations that the information on structural drawings and planning of Delhi metro cannot be made public as there was always a fear that it may go into wrong hands. In its plea, the DMRC had said it is a flagship company, competing for metro projects and this makes confidentiality of its structural drawing a key ingredient to its business.
The architect had said an FIR has been registered about the leakage of information about the drawings and designs of the pillars and perhaps the drawings were stolen.
“The Special Leave Petition is dismissed,” said a bench of justices P. Sathasivam and J. Chelameswar, while dismissing DMRC plea against the Delhi high court order to it to make public its structural drawing in the wake of the July 2009 collapse of a metro corridor pillar at Zamrudpur in south Delhi killing six persons.
The apex court rejected DMRC plea upholding the high court’s ruling that there was no threat to national security in making public the information on its structural drawings under the RTI Act.
The high court had given its order on the plea by a Delhi architect Sudhir Vohra.
The DMRC had challenged the August 1, 2011 judgement of the high court’s division bench which had upheld single judge bench order endorsing the CIC’s March 2010 order to disclose information on the issue.
The architect had filed an application under the RTI Act asking the DMRC to give him all structural drawings of both the pile foundation and the superstructure, including all steel reinforcement details, foundation details, engineering calculations and soil tests pertaining to the cantilevered bracket of Metro Pillar No. 67 which had collapsed on July 12, 2009 resulting in the death of six persons and injury to many others.
The DMRC had said it was not only for the security reasons but also for the commercial considerations that the information on structural drawings and planning of Delhi metro cannot be made public as there was always a fear that it may go into wrong hands. In its plea, the DMRC had said it is a flagship company, competing for metro projects and this makes confidentiality of its structural drawing a key ingredient to its business.
The architect had said an FIR has been registered about the leakage of information about the drawings and designs of the pillars and perhaps the drawings were stolen.
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