KISHAN CHAND JAIN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India filed by way of a public interest litigation seeking multiple reliefs, running into three pages, the gist of which is only for a direction to implement the mandate of Sec. 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.(Hereinafter referred to as 'Act') As the prayer is only for implementing the various obligations enlisted under Sec. 4, it is necessary to reproduce the Sec. for ready reference:

(2.) The statutory obligations of public authorities under Sec. 4(1) relate to: (a) maintenance of all public records, duly catalogued and indexed for easy accessibility of the information; (b) publishing particulars of the organisational structure, functions and duties of officers, procedures that are followed for decision-making, salary structure, budget allocation, publication of facts relating to policies and announcements which includes providing reasons for quasijudicial decisions. Sub-sec. (2) mandates the public authority to take steps for providing information under clause (b) of sub-sec. (1) suo motu and further to disseminate the said information for easy accessibility to the public. The scope and ambit of Sec. 4 has already been considered by this Court in a number of decisions.(Central Board of Secondary Education and another v. Aditya Bandopadhyay and others (2011) 8 SCC 497, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India v. Shaunak H. Satya and others (2011) 8 SCC 781, Verhoeven, Marie -Emmanuelle v. Union of India and others. (2016) 6 SCC 456 and Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2020) 5 SCC 481).

(3.) We may note the observation of this Court in just one of the cases, namely Institute of Chartered Accountants of India v. Shaunak H. Satya and others (2011) 8 SCC 781: