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2013 (11) TMI 640 - Commission - Indian LawsAccess to Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 - Upload of a document namely HSN on the website - Held that - There is no reason why the Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 should not be put on the website of the respondent public authority. Section 4(6)(v) of the RTI Act expressly provides for publishing of rules and regulations held by it or under its control or used by its employees. Therefore, since such documents are to be published, there is no reason why such documents cannot be put on its website. The Commission therefore directs the respondent to put on its website the Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011. Insofar as the HSN is concerned it is a document which, as per respondent, is published by the World Customs Organization and, therefore, cannot be said to be held by the public authority. The Commission is of the view that there is no obligation on the part of the public authority to put HSN on its website. If this was the case, there would be no end to the documents required to be put on website by any public authority - Decided partly in favour of appellant.
Issues: Access to Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 and uploading 'HSN' document on the website.
The appellant filed an application under the RTI Act, 2005, requesting the respondent public authority to publish the Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 on its website as per Section 4(1)(b) and Section 4(2) of the Act. The respondent argued that the manual is only accessible with a protected password and that putting every allied Act on the website, including the 'HSN' document related to the World Customs Organization, is impractical. The respondent also raised concerns about the appellant's motives, suggesting a commercial interest. The main issue revolved around the accessibility of the Service Tax Audit Manual and the HSN document on the website. The Commission held that there is no valid reason why the Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 should not be made available on the respondent's website, as Section 4(6)(v) of the RTI Act mandates the publication of such documents. Therefore, the Commission directed the respondent to publish the Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 on its website. However, regarding the HSN document, the Commission noted that it is published by the World Customs Organization and not held by the public authority, absolving the authority of the obligation to upload it on their website. The Commission emphasized that requiring every document to be uploaded would be impractical and set a precedent for endless obligations on public authorities. In conclusion, the Commission disposed of the matter by directing the respondent to upload the Service Tax Audit Manual, 2011 on their website while exempting them from the obligation to publish the 'HSN' document.
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