Bar & Bench: New Delhi: Tuesday,
April 19, 2016.
Just over ten
days ago, the Central Information Commission passed an order directing the Bar Council of India (BCI) to furnish an
annual report in compliance with 4(1)(b) of the Right to Information Act, 2005
(RTI Act)
Section
4(1)(b) of the RTI Act requires every public authority to maintain a set of 17 specified categories of
information concerning the functioning of the authority, which must be published on it’s website, and
through other methods, on an annual basis.
The case
relates to a request made by the appellant, K.R. Chitra, to the BCI seeking
information relating to inspection of all law colleges, universities and
institutions and other meetings by the members of the BCI during the period
from April 1, 2010 to 2015.
K.R. Chitra
had requested for the names of the members of the BCI, names of all law
colleges/Universities and institutions inspected by each member,
date/month/years of inspection etc.
BCI had
responded to the request by submitting that unless the appellant focuses on a
specific institution or period which she refused, it would be impossible to
furnish the information as there are thousands of colleges.
The
Commission termed the appellant’s request as “unnecessary”. However, it did not
ignore the fact that the BCI has failed
to comply with Section 4(1)(b).
Therefore,
the Commission directed the BCI to submit an affidavit stating the date of
compliance. The Commission further
slammed the BCI by saying
“The
Commission directs the public authority to furnish annual report in compliance
with 4(1)(b), as required under section 19(8)(1)(vi) and directs the PIO to
show cause why maximum penalty should not be imposed for this breach of RTI.“
The deadline
provided by the Commission to the BCI is 9 May 2016, failing which:
“Commission
will be compelled to initiate appropriate action against the Chairman, BCI for
non-compliance of section 4(1)(b), which was sought under section 3 by the
appellant in this case as that amounts to denial of information attracting
penalties.“
It is
unlikely that the May 9 deadline can be met. BCI Chairman, Manan Kumar Mishra
told Bar & Bench:
“BCI would be
filing a review with the Commission. BCI doesn’t have enough funds nor the
infrastructure to provide such huge data of information. If there is only
specific information needed then it is possible to give the details.“
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