Central Information Commission
Mr.Subhash Chandra Agrawal vs Ministry Of Civil Aviation on 23 February, 2011
Central Information Commission
Room No. 305, 2nd Floor, B-Wing,
August Kranti Bhawan
Bhikaji Kama Place
New Delhi
Case No. CIC/SS/A/2010/000931 &
CIC/SS/A/2010/000933
Name of Appellant : Sh. Subhash Chandra Agarwal
(The Appellant waas present)
Name of Respondent : Alliance Air, Domestic Terminal, IGI Airport
Represented by Sh. Arun K. Goyal,
Company Secretary and Sh. Bansi lal.
A.O.(Pers.)
The matter was heard on : 23.02.2011
ORDER
In the aforementioned two cases, a single RTI application and the same Respondents are involved, therefore, the Commission has decided to club both the cases and dispose of the matter in a single order.
In the present two cases, the only issue before the Commission is whether the name of the person making a request for a chartered flight can be withheld under the RTI Act. In brief the facts of the case are that in the month of April, 2010, there were news items in the newspapers reporting that a scheduled flight was aborted less than 12 hours before its departure to allow the aircraft to be deployed as a chartered flight. In this regard the Appellant, while seeking other information in connection with this incident sought the name of the person making the request for the chartered flight, as mentioned in the news report. The PIO denied this information under Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act. Aggrieved with the reply of the Respondent the Appellant has approached this Commission for disclosure of the name of the person making the request for the charted flight.
Parties heard. The Respondent during the hearing submit that the name of the person requesting for the chartered flight cannot be disclosed under the RTI Act, as the sought for information includes commercial confidence the disclosure of which would harm their competitive position. The Appellant, on the other hand, submits that no commercial confidence is involved in the disclosure of the sought for information and moreover even exempted information can be disclosed under subsection 2 of the Section 8 of the RTI Act, if public interest in disclosure outweights harm to the protected interests. He further submits that, as per the news reports, the scheduled flight was allegedly aborted before its departure to allow the aircraft to be deployed as a chartered flight for conveying some IPL players from Chandigarh to Chennai, in violation of Rules. During the proceedings of the hearing, parties point out some inadvertent errors in the previous case No. CIC/SS/C/2010/000427, to the effect that there is a wrong date in the order and also to the effect that it had been wrongly mentioned in the order that the PIO had failed to respond to the RTI application of Sh. Subhash Chander Agrawal, thought in fact the PIO had responded.
After hearing the parties and on perusal of the relevant documents on file and also keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the present case, the Commission is of the view that public interest in disclosure of the sought for information outweights the harm to the protected interest, as impropriety and favouritism in aborting the flight on the behest of an influential person/persons, in violation of the rules, has been alleged by the Appellant and in the news reports provided by him.
In view of the above, in the interest of transparency and accountability, the PIO is hereby directed to disclose the name of the person/body/ organization making the request for the chartered flight and also provide a copy of the rules to the Appellant, permitting the authorities to accede to such a request, within 10 days of receipt of this order.
The inadvertent errors in the previous order dated 28.10.2010, in case No. CIC/SS/C/2010/000427 stands rectified to the effect that the matter was heard on 27.10.2010 and the PIO had responded to the RTI application of Shri Subhash Chandra Agarwal.
(Sushma Singh) Information Commissioner 23.02.2011 Authenticated true copy:
(S.Padmanabha) Under Secretary & Deputy Registrar Case No. CIC/SS/A/2010/00931 CIC/SS/A/2010/00933 Copy to:
1. Shri Subhash Chandra Agrawal, 1775 Kucha Lattushah Darona, Chandni Chowk, Delhi110006.
2. The Central Public Information Officer, Company Secretary, Alliance Air, Domestic TerminalI, IGI Airport, Palam, New Delhi110037.
3. The First Appellate Authority, Incharge, AASI, Alliance Air, Domestic TerminalI, IGI Airport, Palam, New Delhi110037.