Attorney General is a public authority and comes under RTI: Delhi High Court

Delhi High Court in its ruling has held that Attorney General of India comes under the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
This ruling reversed the previous decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which had held that Attorney General does not come under RTI Act.
Delhi High Court held that

• Attorney General is not merely a lawyer for the government, but is a constitutional authority. This is because functions performed by the AG under Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of India are in the nature of public functions.
• So the office of Attorney General is a public authority and comes under the ambit of section 2(h) of the RTI Act.

The decision was given by Delhi High Court bench headed by Justice Vibhu Bakhru while hearing on two separate pleas filed by RTI activists Subhash Chandra Agarwal and RK Jain. In one plea, the petitioners had challenged the CIC ruling and urged the court to declare AG office answerable to RTI Act.
In 2012, CIC bench had ruled that the Attorney General of India is only a person and cannot be considered an authority under the RTI Act.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2015