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TMI Blog2011 (3) TMI 1299X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to incur the huge expenses and administrative difficulties, including the deployment of staff exclusively to deal with such requests and this would result in undue hardship and clogging of its administrative setup. Once a piece of law is in place, inconvenience is no excuse to exclude adherence to it. The bounden has to obey and abide by it. This plea of PSC also does not commend acceptance. In the result, the decisions impugned by the PSC are upheld except to the extent they relate to information destroyed in terms of the provisions of the rules enabling destruction of records by PSC. The impugned orders and the orders sought to be enforced, through a couple of writ petitions by persons who have sought information, would stand regulated by what is stated herein. Further enforcement of those orders, including by invoking the penal provisions shall be only in strict conformity with what is stated herein. In view of the fact that the question of applicability of the RTI Act to PSC was being considered in this bunch of matters, orders imposing penalty, if any, are set aside and the PSC will have the statutory time, to comply with the directions of the SIC, running from today. The writ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... la [2010 (1) KLT 691](S.N. College), it was argued that it has been held in those cases that the concept of information under RTI Act is with reference to Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. He accordingly argued that beyond that, the provisions of the RTI Act cannot be extended. He said that this restrictive approach has to be applied since it has been held by the Apex Court in Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education v. Paritosh Bhupesh kumar Sheth [(1984) 4 SCC 27], hereinafter, Paritosh, that in terms of the Constitution, there is no right to information, including as regards answer scripts. He said that the law laid by the Apex Court in that regard is also that if such right is recognized, it would lead to acceding to a further right to demand revaluation and such situation would necessarily lead to uncertainty, lack of finality and administrative inconvenience to the examining bodies. He also pointed out that even in terms of the Constitution, principles of secrecy and public interest immunity would stand to advise that information in relation to PSC, in particular, matters relating to examinations, ought not to be released as information, invokin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al Information Commissioner Another [W.P (C). No. 8529 of 2009], Allahabad High Court in Public Information Officer v. State Information Commission, U.P. and Others [W.P. No. 3262 (MB) of 2008], Pritam Rooj v. University of Calcutta [AIR 2008 Cal. 118], University of Calcutta v. Pritam Rooj [AIR 2009 Cal. 97], The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission v. The Tamil Nadu Information Commission [W.P. No. 34630/2007 connected cases], D. Parisuthanathan v. Public Information Officer/Registrar General, High Court, Madras [W.P. No. 1285/2009 connected cases], Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Limited v. Tamil Nadu Information Commissioner [W.A. No. 811/2008 M.P.No. 1/2008] and Union Public Service Commission v. Shiv Shambhu [2008-ILR. Delhi 17-2016 : 2008 (TLS) 141374] and Secretary General, Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal [LPA. 501/2009], to argue that the provision for information in terms of the RTI Act has to be understood on the basis of the definition of information in that Act. He further argued that the validity of the RTI Act not being under challenge, there is no reason to tinker with the specific definition given by the legislature to the term info ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , in terms of that Act. There is also no provision in Section 8 of that Act classifying any information as eligible for exemption from disclosure. 6. Section 2 of the RTI Act is the dictionary of that legislation. It contains Definitions . Clause (f) thereof says that information means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force. The Honourable Supreme Court stated in Hariprasad Shivshanker Shukla v. A.D. Divelkar [AIR 1957 SC 121], that There is no doubt that when the Act itself provides a dictionary for the words used, we must look into that dictionary first for an interpretation of the words used in the statute. We are not concerned with any presumed intention of the legislature; our task is to get at the intention as expressed in the statute. When the statutory provision defining a particular term says that the said term shall mean what is stated in that defini ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... conveyed by the use of the words in a particular section. But where there is no obscurity in the language of the section, there is no scope for the application of the rule ex visceribus actus. This rule is never allowed to alter the meaning of what is of itself clear and explicit. As observed in Pandey Co. Builders (P) Ltd. v. State of Bihar [(2007) 1 SCC 467], in view of the provision unless the context otherwise requires in the definition clause, one may not stick to the definition, when the provision in the interpretation clause shall lead to anomalous and absurd results. Such course shall not be resorted to otherwise. The court cannot read anything into a statutory provision which is plain and unambiguous. A statue is an edict of the legislature. The language employed in a statute is the determinative factor of legislative intent. 8. The question of contextual construction of any particular provision of the RTI act and the consequential excusing of the PSC from any such provision, by using the tool unless the context otherwise requires in the opening part of Section 2 of that Act, do not arise. This is because, to a large extent, the plea of the PSC is that the RTI Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he legendary decisions of the Apex Court in State of Rajasthan v. Raj Narain [AIR 1975 SC 865] and S.P. Gupta v. Union of India [1981 (Supp.) SCC 87]. Those precedents do not, in any manner, abridge the ever expanding horizons of the fundamental right to freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 19(1)(a). Nor do those judgments act as precedents for any proposition that the legislatures have to restrict the concept of information for the purpose of providing access, with the aid of a statutory instrument, in the form of the RTI Act. All that has been said in those judgments is that the ever available fundamental right to information as part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression has found statutory recognition in the form of RTI Act, as a successor to the Freedom of Information Act, 2002. Those decisions are not precedents laying down any definition for the term information for the purpose of the RTI Act. 10. To make a statute, including by laying down a statutory definition, even artificial, for any particular term used in that statue, is the exclusive function of the legislature. If it does so, that cannot be abridged by any situational or explanat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oviding access to information. This evolution of the People s thinking found acceptance with the Legislature. This is how the RTI Act came into being, making a specific provision in the form of Section 8 granting exemptions from the provisions of the RTI Act. We, therefore, uphold the views in TREESA and agree with the Division Bench and the single Judge of the Calcutta High Court in Pritam Rooj pointing out the evolution of the society leading to the RTI Act and the requirement of the Universities to fall in line with the provisions contained in that Act. The constitutional values have to be identified and effectuated as We, the People of India marches. The concepts which had held field, even for fairly long, have later dwinkled with the exploring minds of the Indian people. As noted by Krishna Iyer, J. in Authorised Officer v. S. Naganatha Ayyar [(1979) 3 SCC 466], though the Judges are constitutional invigilators and statutory interpreters, they are also responsive and responsible to Part IV of the Constitution. The Judges have, with the passage of time, contributed to the process of evolution of the constitutional law to ultimately lead the society to affirmatively stand by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... restricted to such information as may fall within the concept of fundamental right to information as part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression referable to Article 19(1)(a), is unsustainable in law and is hereby repelled. 14. Now on to the plea of the PSC that it holds a fiduciary status. Three issues arise in this context. Firstly, the PSC claims that there is a fiduciary relationship between it and those being subjected to examination for the purpose of selection to public service. Secondly, it claims that there is a fiduciary relationship between it and the examiners and as a consequence, it is eligible to claim protection from disclosure, except with the sanction of the competent authority, as regards the identity of the examiners as also the materials that were subjected to the examination. Thirdly, rather, most importantly, it contends that the PSC holds a larger fiduciary public interest relationship with the society at large in relation to the maintenance of purity, transparency and the credibility of the procedure of selection to public service and therefore materials in relation to such selection procedures cannot be subjected to access as if th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that may be reposed by the examinees in the institution of the PSC does not inspire the acceptability of a fiduciary relationship that should kindle the exclusion of information in relation to the evaluation or other details relating to the examination. Once the evaluation is over and results are declared, no more secrecy is called for. Dissemination of such information would only add to the credibility of the PSC, in the constitutional conspectus in which it is placed. A particular examinee would therefore be entitled to access to information in relation to that person s answer scripts. As regards others, information in relation to answer scripts may fall within the pale of third party information in terms of Section 11 of the RTI Act. This only means that such information cannot be accessed except in conformity with the provisions contained in Section 11. It does not, in any manner, provide for any immunity from access. 17. We shall now examine the next contention of PSC that there is a fiduciary relationship between it and the examiners and as a consequence, it is eligible to claim protection from disclosure, except with the sanction of the competent authority, as regards th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... slature after making clear and specific exemptions and restrictions regarding information which it, in its wisdom, decided not to disseminate. The reference made to the Official Secrets Act and the provision that the RTI Act applies with an overriding effect on other laws makes it explicitly clear that the legislative intention is that no principle of secrecy other than which is recognized specifically in the RTI Act is taken up as a shield against access and dessimination of information by public authorities in terms of the RTI Act. Transparency will only add to the confidence of the people regarding the purity of the conduct of public authorities. The confidence that the public repose on the PSC would only be augmented by the disclosure of information. We do not find any reason why the PSC could say that the confidentiality in re it and the public at large would, in any manner, be affected by the disclosure of information in relation to examinations and materials in connection therewith. This argument also therefore fails. 19. Barring the eligibility of any candidate who would be eligible to notice and hearing prior to the disclosure of any third party information in terms of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... anding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923), and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than that Act. Such statutory provision having been made by the legislature, within its competence, it cannot be watered down or modified except by recourse to legislative procedures. We therefore do not find way to accept the contention of the PSC in this regard. 22. Another plea of PSC is nothing but a managerial issue. It is pointed out that the PSC has to incur the huge expenses and administrative difficulties, including the deployment of staff exclusively to deal with such requests and this would result in undue hardship and clogging of its administrative setup. Once a piece of law is in place, inconvenience is no excuse to exclude adherence to it. The bounden has to obey and abide by it. This plea of PSC also does not commend acceptance. In the result, the decisions impugned by the PSC are upheld except to the extent they relate to information destroyed in terms of the provisions of the rules enabling destruction of records by PSC. The impugned orders and the orders sought ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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