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New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Monday said that any public authority, if funded by the government by any means, falls under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.Justice S. Muralidhar, while dismissing the appeal of the Indian Railway Welfare Organisation (IRWO), said: 'There is substantial financing of the IRWO through funds directly or indirectly provided by the Ministry of Railways. And, therefore, it falls under the ambit of the RTI Act.'The court was hearing an appeal of the IRWO against a Central Information Commission (CIC) order that asked the organisation to disclose certain information to an applicant, and said that the IRWO is a public authority.On the other hand, IRWO stated, 'It is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act and its principal object is to promote and provide dwelling units all over India to serving and retired railway personnel and their widows on a no profit no loss basis.''It is submitted that IRWO receives no grant from the Railway Board or the central government. It received a loan of Rs.10 crore from the Ministry of Railways which has since been repaid. A loan of Rs.6 crore was taken from the Railway Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) of which only Rs.1.2 crore remains to be paid,' IRWO stated.'The Ministry of Railways exercises no control, whether administrative or financial, over the working of the IRWO. There are only four officials in the Ministry of Railways in ex-officio capacity, out of the total 19 members in the governing body of the IRWO, while the others are non-government members,' counsel for the IRWO stated.However, the court did not agree with the IRWO's submission and said: 'As regards the control of IRWO, this court finds that the key posts in IRWO are held by officials of the Railway Board although in an ex-officio capacity and that points that the IRWO is under the control of the Ministry of Railways.''As regards the financing, it is important to note that apart from the past financing through loans by the Indian Railways and the Ministry of Railways, even the recent proposal from the Ministry of Railways for a loan to the IRWO has not been rejected,' the court observed.'This distinguishes IRWO from any other society that may not have similar access to government funds,' the bench said while directing IRWO to disclose the information under the RTI.
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