COCHIN INTERNATION AIRPORT LTD Vs. STATE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the plexus of the large number of cases, materials and pleadings on record, is a crucial question: whether the Cochin International Airport Ltd. (hereinafter referred to by the acronym "CIAL") can be construed to be a Public Authority under the provisions of the Right to Information Act ("RTI Act" for brevity); and consequently whether applicants can seek information from them within the frame work of the said Act.

(2.) The pleadings on record would show that the State Information Commission (hereinafter referred to as "SIC" for ease) has concluded that the CIAL is a Public Authority coming within the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act and has, therefore, issued the orders impugned in this writ petition, directing its Public Information Officer to furnish the information sought for by the various applicants involved in these cases.

(3.) It is the specific contention of the CIAL that they do not come within any of the enumerated categories of "Authorities" under Section 2(h) of the Act, they being only a Company constituted under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and axiomatically, that they cannot be construed to be a Public Authority under the said Section. Various other averments and assertions are also made by the CIAL, more in support as corollary to its main contentions; in their attempt to have all the impugned orders in these writ petitions set aside, primarily on the ground of lack of jurisdiction for the SIC to issue them.