SC stays ruling treating NSE as public authority under RTI Act

The Supreme Court stayed the Central Information Commission's order declaring the National Stock Exchange a public authority under the RTI Act. The court issued notice on NSE's plea challenging the Delhi High Court judgment and sought responses within four weeks

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Central Information Commission which held that the National Stock Exchange of India (NSEI) is a ‘public authority’ under the Right to Information Act. A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta agreed to hear a petition filed by the NSEI and sought responses from the Central Information Commission and others within four weeks.

The NSEI challenged the July 1 verdict of a division bench of the Delhi High Court. The high court’s division bench had dismissed the NSEI’s appeal against its single judge’s April 2010 decision which ruled that NSEI qualified as a ‘public authority’ under section 2(h) of the RTI Act. The stock exchange had challenged the June 2007 CIC order before the single judge and asserted that it was not a ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act.

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Citizens can enforce their right to ask for information only from a ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act. The high court’s division bench had observed that if the body is owned, controlled or substantially financed by the appropriate government, it would qualify as a ‘public authority’. “The single judge holds, in the impugned judgment, that the NSEI is controlled by the appropriate government, and we agree,” the division bench had said.