Opinion of Solicitor General to Centre exempted under RTI: Delhi HC
2011 order of the CIC that directed the disclosure of the opinion given to the Centre by the then Solicitor General of India in 2007 in various cases filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India on the allotment of 2G Spectrums. The court held that such information was exempted under the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act except when there are «weighty reasons» to support that its disclosure is in public interest.
Justice Subramonium Prasad, while dealing with the Centre's challenge to the Central Information Commission (CIC) order, said that the relation between the Solicitor General and the Government of India is that of a fiduciary and a beneficiary, and hence excepted under Section 8(1)(e) of the Act.
The opinion can only be allowed to be disclosed «if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interest» in terms of section 8(2) of the RTI Act.
In the present case, since the RTI applicant did not demonstrate the public interest, the order of the CIC could not be sustained, opined the court, the HC said.
«Just by simply stating that it is in public interest to disclose the information would not be sufficient unless weighty reasons are given as to how the information which is exempted from being provided under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act should be provided and as to how the public interest would outweigh the harm to the protected interest,» said the court in a recent order.
