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Judgment
Prafulla C. Pant, J.—By means of this writ petition, moved under Article 226 of Constitution of India, the petitioner has sought following reliefs:
a. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the observations and the directions of the Commission as given in paragraph No. 4 of the impugned order dated 21.11.2007 (Annexure No. 8) and also to quash the communication letter/direction issued by the letter dated 22.04.2008 (Annexure No. 13).
b. Issue a writ, order or direction by declaring that the petitioner''s institution which is a private body does not come within the purview of the public authority as defined u/s 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
c. Issue any suitable writ, order or direction, which this Hon''ble court may deem fit and proper on the basis of the facts and circumstances of the case.
d. Award the cost of the petition to the petitioner.
Heard.
Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner''s institution, Chanakya Law College, Rudrapur, is run by society known as Chanakya Society of Legal Studies which was registered under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The case of the petitioner is that since the petitioner''s institution is not aided by the Government, as such it does not come under definition of "Public Authority". Therefore, it can not be compelled to comply the provisions of Right to Information Act, 2005. In this connection order dated 22.04.2008, passed by Uttarakhand Information Commission is challenged, whereby the petitioner has been directed to comply provisions of Section 4, Section 5 and Section 19 of Right to Information Act, 2005.
The issue involved in this writ petition was directly in issue in Writ Petition No. 2038 of 2009 Asian Education Charitable Society v. State of Uttarakhand and Ors., and other connected writ petitions. Bunch of said writ petitions has already been decided by this Court on merits vide its order dated 09.02.2010, passed in aforesaid writ petition no, 2038 of 2009 (M/S) along with the connected matters. In said judgment, this Court after hearing the parties, has settled the issue and it has been held that private individuals or private institutions (which is not aided by the Government), are not public authority and can not be compelled to comply provisions contained in Right to Information Act, 2005. It has been held in said case that ''Right to Information'' which is defined in Section 2(j) of the Act clearly provides that the Right to Information is a right to information accessible under that act.
This Court is in complete agreement with the view taken by this Court in the aforesaid writ petition decided earlier.
Therefore, this writ petition is allowed. The impugned order dated 21.11.2007 (copy Annexure No. -8) and order dated 22.04.2008 (copy Annexure No. 13) are hereby quashed. The writ petition accordingly stands disposed of. No order as to costs.