The Hindu: Delhi: Friday, 7 June 2024.
The Delhi High Court has
held that the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) has “no jurisdiction” to
comment on the utilisation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development
Scheme (MPLADS) funds by MPs as the scope of the Right To Information (RTI) Act
is limited to providing access to information under the control of public
authorities.
The court expunged certain remarks made by the CIC while dealing with an RTI application seeking information relating to the utilisation of MPLADS funds.
In its October 2018 order, the CIC had observed that some MPs were “deliberately accumulating” their MPLADS funds for the last year of their term to gain an advantage during elections. It had suggested to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation that this “abuse” of the funds be prevented and guidelines be implemented for distributing the money equally for each year of the five-year term. The court expunged these observations by the CIC.
“The observations made by the CIC on how the Members of Parliament are utilising the MPLADS funds have to be expunged,” Justice Subramonium Prasad said in his May 15 order.
The court’s order came after the Centre’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation challenged the CIC order. The Ministry contended that the CIC exceeded its jurisdiction by commenting on the action taken by MPs in spending their MPLADS funds.
The court noted that as per Section 18 of the RTI Act, the CIC can only deal with issues relating to the information being sought or any other issue related to the dissemination of information.
The court, however, retained the CIC’s direction for the disclosure of constituency-wise and work-wise details of the funds under the RTI Act.
The court expunged certain remarks made by the CIC while dealing with an RTI application seeking information relating to the utilisation of MPLADS funds.
In its October 2018 order, the CIC had observed that some MPs were “deliberately accumulating” their MPLADS funds for the last year of their term to gain an advantage during elections. It had suggested to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation that this “abuse” of the funds be prevented and guidelines be implemented for distributing the money equally for each year of the five-year term. The court expunged these observations by the CIC.
“The observations made by the CIC on how the Members of Parliament are utilising the MPLADS funds have to be expunged,” Justice Subramonium Prasad said in his May 15 order.
The court’s order came after the Centre’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation challenged the CIC order. The Ministry contended that the CIC exceeded its jurisdiction by commenting on the action taken by MPs in spending their MPLADS funds.
The court noted that as per Section 18 of the RTI Act, the CIC can only deal with issues relating to the information being sought or any other issue related to the dissemination of information.
The court, however, retained the CIC’s direction for the disclosure of constituency-wise and work-wise details of the funds under the RTI Act.
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