UNION OF INDIA Vs. MANJIT SINGH BALI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner (UOI) has filed the present petitions under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India impugning the orders dated 20.01.2015 (impugned in W.P(C) 6341/2015) and 30.06.2017 (impugned in W.P.(C) 1803/2018) passed by the Central Information Commission (hereafter 'CIC') allowing the second appeals preferred by the respondent under Section 19(3) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (hereafter 'the RTI Act').The said orders are, hereafter, referred to as the impugned orders.

(2.) By the impugned orders, the CIC has rejected the PIO's (Public Information Officer's) contention that the disclosure of the file notings pertaining to sanction of prosecution of the respondent would impede the process of investigation and, therefore, the information as sought is exempt from disclosure under the RTI Act. Accordingly, the CIC has directed the concerned PIO to provide the information as sought by the respondent.

(3.) The petitioner has assailed the impugned orders, essentially, on the ground that the information as sought by the respondent is exempted from disclosure in terms of Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act. It is further contended that the documents as sought by the respondent include information received from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is a third party and is also excluded from the purview of the RTI Act in terms of Section 24(1) of the RTI Act.