‘Difficulty to collate data not a ground for rejecting RTI.

Times of India: New Delhi: Friday, May 10, 2024

Delhi High Court recently ruled that difficulty in collating information was not a valid reason to deny information under Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005. A single-judge bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad said a public authority could not refuse to provide information under RTI Act on the basis that it was not available at one place and that it would take a long time to collate.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Delhi govt against an order of Central Information Commission (CIC), which directed it to provide information to RTI applicant Prabhjot Singh Dhillon on the actions taken by education department against teachers for offering private tuitions. The court also observed that the objective of RTI Act was to ensure transparency in the functioning of departments and it couldn’t be thwarted by state govt on the ground that the voluminous information was being sought and, therefore, “Govt also cannot deny information on the ground that it it will take time to collate the information,” the bench stated.