Is state Raj Bhavan a public authority?

Bangalore Mirror‎: Bangalore: Saturday, July 02, 2016.

Activist denied information from Karnataka governor's office saying matter is pending before SC.

Information regarding the Raj Bhav-an was public till a few years ago. But when activist T Narasimha Murthy filed a petition seeking information, he was denied the same saying the Supreme Court is yet to decide on Raj Bhavan's public status.

In order to ascertain if this was the case with all Raj Bhavans across the country, he took up a test case. He applied for information under RTI, on governor K Rosaiah assuming office, from the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan. To his surprise, he was provided information in eight days flat, thus adding doubt to the Karnataka governor's stance.

What prompted Murthy

Murthy had sought information concerning the antiques in Karnataka Raj Bhavan last year. However, the PIO had responded stating that whether the Raj Bhavan is a public authority or not, was a matter pending before the Supreme Court. Murthy was not provided any information.

"The issue whether the hon'ble governor is a public authority or not and the applicability of RTI Act to the hon'ble governor is pending before the Supreme Court of India in SLP (civil) No 33124/2011. Therefore, the matter is sub-judice and consequently no information under the RTI act can be made available now to the applicant until the final decision of hon'ble Supreme Court," undersecretary to the governor had maintained.

Murthy, like other RTI activists, said he decided to test this claim; especially since the governor's secretariat had been sharing information under the RTI Act in the past. He said, "During former governor HR Bharadwaj's time, his secretariat had been providing information. I'm a witness since the secretariat had provided me information on the air travels of both the governor and his wife. They had also provided information on the staff, their designation and salaries. Even if the case being cited now is pending, Raj Bhavan's recent reply is surprising. So, I decided to take up a test case," Murthy added.

He then applied to Tamil Nadu governor's secretariat on June 22. To his surprise, Raj Bhavan responded with information on governor K Rosaiah assuming office on June 27, and it reached Murthy on June 30. This, Murthy said, was evidence that a Raj Bhavan can share information.

"When there is no bar to the Raj Bhavan in Tamil Nadu, the same should apply to our Raj Bhavan. But strangely, we are being denied information, which is a fundamental right. Even Rashtrapati Bhavan shares information under RTI. So why is our Raj Bhavan not a public authority?" Murthy questioned.

The information commission had penalised one of Karnataka Raj Bhavan's PIOs in November 2015, and the governor secretariat had remitted the penalty, which means it had accepted that it was a public authority.

"I was denied information citing the same Supreme Court order. I asked them if there was a Supreme Court stay on providing information till the said case was decided. They responded by asking me to get that reply from the SC. We expect transparency from the first office of the state. We are planning to move court on the same," S Bhaskaran, another activist, told Bangalore Mirror.