Denial of RTI to non-citizens is against the spirit of Constitution: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that the Right to Information is available to citizens and non-citizens depending upon the kind of information which is sought.

"Restricting the Right to Information to only citizens in the light of both terms i.e., citizens and persons being used in the RTI Act without any discernible distinction would be contrary to sprit of the Constitution as well as to the RTI Act," Court said.

The single judge bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh said that Section 3 of the RTI Act, which says, “all citizens have the right to information” would have to be read as a positive recognition of the right in favour of citizens, but not as a prohibition against non-citizens.

“Creating an absolute bar [against non-citizens] would be contrary to the purpose and object of the RTI Act itself, and such an absolute bar cannot be read into the RTI Act,” the Court underscored.

The court, however, made it clear that the disclosure of information to non-citizens would depend on the kind of information sought and the recognition of the rights guaranteed to such a class of persons under the Constitution of India.

In the present case, one AS Rawat, who was employed as a Public Information Officer (PIO) at Central Tibetan Schools Administration (CTSA), filed a petition before the court. Rawat contested a Central Information Commission (CIC) judgment that had imposed a 2,500 fine on him.

The penalty was enforced after the PIO had denied information to a teacher named Dawa Tashi, who had requested details about his confirmation letter and other CTSA advantages. The information was withheld due to Tashi's nationality as a Tibetan. In its order, the CIC had ordered the PIO to provide the petitioner with the requested information and penalized him for his bad faith.

Court stated that the terms "citizen," "people," and "persons" had been used interchangeably after studying the circumstances of the case, the clauses of the Right to Information Bill, and the deliberations of the Parliamentary Committee on the RTI Act.

“The view of the Parliamentary Committee which discussed the Bill and favoured retention of the right only to citizens appears to have been based on a misconception that Fundamental Rights under the Constitution are only available to citizens, which was a wrong premise. Thus, this Court is of the opinion that the Right to Information ought to be available to citizens and non-citizens depending upon the kind of information which is sought and the recognition of the rights guaranteed to such class of persons under the Constitution of India.” the court observed.

Case Title: AS Rawat vs. Dawa Tashi