Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Friday,
July 15, 2016.
The landmark
ruling came when a case pertaining to National Association of Blind was taken
up by the Karnataka State Information Commission.
If reaping
the benefits of the state or centre, then bear with RTI that's the message the
Karnataka State Information Commission (KSIC) has sent out loud while
concluding a case pertaining to 39-year-old National Association for Blind
(NAB) Karnataka, a not-for-profit organisation.
This is
hailed as a major decision when it comes to NGOs and institutions. KIC
concluded NAB is a public authority, bringing it under the purview of the RTI
Act. After hearing both the appellants in the case, social activist Wg Cdr G B
Athri (rtd) and NAB-K, KIC ruled that NAB was a public authority, and nominated
the honorary general secretary of NAB-K as the Public Information Officer
(PIO). The commission has also directed the women and child welfare
department's additional chief secretary to issue a notification declaring NAB
as a public authority and submit a report to this extent to the commission.
The case
The case
pertains to an RTI application by Athri, who, in September 2014, had sought
information with regard to the running of NAB in the last 20 years.
The
information he had sought included a permission letter from the government of
Karnataka to run NAB and NAB - Karnataka branch, the total number of visually
challenged people assisted by NAB-K for their rehabilitation since its
inception year-wise, the total number of staff employed along with their
details of name, educational qualification and appointment, details of
donations received from various agencies both in cash and kind including
government and private parties including foreign donors since inception of the
trust, total amount of grants from various schemes received from central and
state governments since inception along with copies of respective government
letters, audited details of expenditure under various government grants in the
last 10 years, copy of BDA/government letter allotting CA site 4 JB Nagar for
establishing the Karnataka branch NAB.
He had moved
the first appellate authority at NAB in October 2014. Then in November 2014, he
had appealed before the SIC. The commission, which had taken up the case, had
issued notices on May 2015 to both. While the commission heard the matter
subsequently, NAB had submitted its objections.
"Just
because NAB Karnataka comes under the purview of the registrar of societies it
cannot be said that it is a public authority under sections 2(h) of the RTI
Act. We are of the opinion that the grant-aid is in the nature of a
reimbursement of the actual salaries paid by us to some of our staff and no
amount remains for NAB Karnataka to spend on other areas. Almost the entire
portion of the funding required to run the operations of NAB-K (besides the
grant-in-aid reimbursement of the salaries paid to some of our trainers) are
received from private donations and well-wishers. Information about these
donations and the usage of these funds are also included in our published
annual reports. NAB Karnataka is not a public authority as defined under
section 2(h) of the Act and hence access to information cannot be provided to
the applicant. Further, NAB K also is not owned, controlled or substantially
financed, directly or indirectly, by the state government. We, therefore, submit
that the NAB-K being a society registered under the Karnataka Societies Act,
1960, and additionally for the reasons submitted above - does not fall within
the provisions of the RTI Act 2005 and therefore submission of any information
pertaining to NAB Karnataka to the applicant would therefore not arise.
However, we do have copies of our financial statements that have been published
annually - these are available at our office and are accessible to the public
at large. NAB-K is committed to the principles of transparency and governance
and has actually instituted processes to capture and display information about
both donors and beneficiaries on an online platform for our own internal
management purposes," NAB had maintained before KIC.
However,
information commissioner L Krishna Murthy, relying on a Supreme Court decision
in Thalappalam Ser. Co-op Bank Ltd and others vs State of Kerala, under the
condition of being a beneficiary of state or centre, declared NAB-K as public
authority under section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
Athri
welcomed the decision. "They resent anybody coming to their campus. Such
institutions should be above board and set a precedent by being more
transparent than anybody else. As per the Disability Act, section 51, NGOs and
not for profit organisations working in for the disabled should register with
the state authorities, but most won't do so, which is a violation of law. We
have sought action against such NGOs with minister Umashree. NGOs should be
regulated and law abiding," he told Bangalore Mirror.
.JPG)
.JPG)
