New Delhi: Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi is not liable to answer queries made under the RTI Act as it does not fulfil criteria of a public authority, the Central Information Commission has held.
Established on June 21, 1991 to promote former prime
minister Rajiv Gandhi`s ideals and vision for the country, the
foundation runs a number of project for the development of
children, women and other marginalised groups.
"To qualify for public authority, an entity should be
owned, controlled or substantially financed, directly or
indirectly, by the Government. It is nobody?s case that RGF is
owned by the Government. Nor is it controlled by the
Government in as much as its control vests in a Board of
Trustees which is an elected body," a full-bench of the
Commission has held.
The bench comprising information commissioners M M
Ansari, M L Sharma and Satyananda Mishra said the contribution
of the Government is less than four per cent of the total
average income of RGF since its inception.
"It, therefore, cannot be said to be `substantially
financed` by the Government," it said.
The case relates to an RTI application filed before the
foundation by one Shanmuga Patro, who wanted information about
the projects run by it.
Arguing before the bench, Patro said the formation of
RGF was declared by the Government of India through a budget
speech by the then Finance Minister.
The Government had also created a corpus for running the
affairs of RGF, he claimed.
Patro also argued that the foundation is operating from
a building built on a land which was initially allotted by the Government at a normal price to the Jawahar Bhawan Trust on perpetual lease dated September 22, 1998.
"Later, based on the request made by the said Trust, the
Ministry of Urban Development vide letter dated December 28,
1995 accepted the usage of the said land and building by RGF
for absolutely free. The rental value of this real estate in
the open market would be huge," he said to buttress his claim
that the foundation received substantial funding from the
Government and hence is liable to respond to RTI queries.
Rejecting the arguments, the Commission wondered whether
rental value of the said premises at market rate is such that
it would render RGF into a Public Authority.
"No submissions have been made about the current rental
value of the property in-question by the parties...Even if
market rental value is attributed to the property in question,
in our opinion, it would not render RGF into Public
Authority," it said.
PTI
