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7. But before conclusively resting our decision upon the pillar of legal reasoning, I consider it necessary to have a brief look into the history of the Respondent Company as that is apposite for the purpose of the present case.

8. National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is a body corporate constituted by the Parliament under the National Dairy Development Board Act, 1987 and is a Public Authority within the meaning of the RTI Act. MDFVPL was found in April 2000 and is a fully owned subsidiary of the NDDB. All of the fully paid up equity shares of MDFVPL, as on 31.03.2010, are held by the NDDB and its nominees. It is worth appreciating that the Director of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India had communicated to the then Chairperson of NDDB vide its letter No.18-4/99- Admn.IV dated 13.12.1999 :

11. The thrust of the argument forwarded by the Respondent is that MDFVPL, without any external support from the Government, has received funding in the through equity shares, loans etc through the NDDB and that the Central Government did not delegate it upon the NDDB expressly to establish MDFVPL as such. It is contended by the Respondent that the control and financing which is enjoyed by the NDDB in MDFVPL does not amount to any control or financing on the part of Central Government. We find no merit in such contention because of the reasons stated in the preceding paragraphs. The Central Government's approval to the Resolution passed by the NDDB Board of Directors is itself evident of the fact that the creation of MDFVPL was not an act committed only by the management of NDDB but in truest sense, it was a preliminary action which was finally effectuated by the Central Government's approval. It leaves us with no room for doubt on the fact that NDDB was used as a Special Purpose Vehicle by the Central Government to create a wholly owned Pvt. Ltd. company in the form of MDFVPL so as to take over the functioning of the Mother Dairy project in Delhi. Had it not been for the role of Central Government in giving the green flag to the formation of MDFVPL, perhaps it would be difficult to assail how else the Respondent would have got vending shops all over the NCR region at such concessional rates. The preferential treatment per se speaks of the Central Government's role in the formation of MDFVPL.

12. The role of the Central Government is further two-fold - financing wise as well as control wise. We shall deal with both these aspects now one each at a time. We have already settled that the Respondent did receive indirect funding from the Central Government, which deliberately deployed the NDDB as a channel to fund and run the MDFVPL. The question remains that of "substantial financing" for the purpose of clause (i) of Section 2(h). All the 100% equity paid up shares of MDFVPL are owned by NDDB. There is a secured loan of Rs.7,53,018 and an unsecured loan of Rs.11,12,983 both taken from the NDDB out of a total loan of Rs.1,02,69,978 taken by MDFVPL, which amounts to approximately 18%. The word "substantial" cannot be made to fit into a straight-jacketed formula but its construction surely varies with the factual matrix of each case. For instance, 1% of a Billion would clearly outweigh 90% of a 1000, simply because the percentage above at most can be solid indicia for an avid mathematician but may fail to indicate the essence of a transaction to a reasonable prudent man.

15. A perusal of the Articles of Association of the MDFVPL leaves us with no doubt regarding the control exercised by the Central Government through NDDB in the matters of MDFVPL. Article 9 gives the power to appoint the Chairman of MDFVPL to NDDB. Article 10 (2) states that the Directors shall be appointed by the NDDB and enlists the first five Directors of the Respondent Company beforehand only. All the 5 Directors have close ties with the NDDB and are not Independent Directors. All in all, the control enjoyed by NDDB through its self appointed Board of Directors over MDFVPL is not merely supervisory but in fact complete and dominant in nature.