DNA: Mumbai: Wednesday, November 22, 2017.
In response
to a Right To Information (RTI) application filed by a Marine Lines resident,
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), executing the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-3
underground corridor, refused to share a copy of the contract signed between
the corporation and its contractor, citing it as "commercial confidence of
third party" thus the document being exempted from disclosure under the
RTI Act.
However,
Jamshed Sukhadwala, the RTI applicant, has contended that copies of a
government agency signing a contract is basic information, and the MMRC should
be providing it to the public under section 4 of the RTI Act as suo motu
disclosures.
Sukhadwala,
had sought complete agreement/word order/contract signed between MMRC and
Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) as a lead partner in the joint venture
with MMS of Russia. MMRC, in its reply, said, "As per section 11(1) of RTI
Act, 2005 information related to the commercial confidence of a third party
cannot be shared."
The contract
between MMRC and HCC-MMS is for the construction of a 4,072-meter corridor for
the underground Metro-3 line including four underground stations, and
3,115-meter long twin bored tunnels.
Sukhadwala,
said, "This is totally wrong and the contract signed by MMRC with
contractors is very much under public disclosure as per section 4 of RTI Act.
This is the same MMRC that has provided me the copy of a loan agreement it
signed with a Japanese bank for the funding of Metro-3."
An email
query sent to MMRC on the same did not fetch a response until the time of going
to the press.
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