CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Appeal No. CIC/WB/A/2007/01155-SM dated
Right to Information Act-2005- Under Section (19)
Dated 18.03.2009
Appellant : Shri Guneet Chaudhary
Respondent : AWWA
The Appellant along with Shri Gurmohan Singh, is present.
On behalf of the Respondent, the following are present:-
(i) Lt. Col. Dinesh Kumar (retd), Jt. Director (Adm. & Accts)
(ii) Major Manisha Gahlot, GSO-1 (Legal)
(iii) Shri K.K. Srivastava, Asstt. General Manager (Legal)
(iv) Wg. Cdr. N.V.S. Rao, DGM (F&A) CSD HO
(v) Shri J.S. Bali, AWWA Institute
The brief facts of the case are as under.
2. The Appellant had approached the CPIO in the Headquarters of the Western Command
in an application dated 28.5.2007 for various information regarding functioning of the Army Wives
Welfare Association (AWWA). The Respondent, in his reply dated 18.6.2007, claimed that the
AWWA being a non-Governmental private body, the Public Authority concerned held no
information in respect of that organization and, hence, denied the information. The Appellant,
thereafter, filed an Appeal before the first Appellate Authority (FAA) which too was disposed off
by that Authority by endorsing the decision of the CPIO. Not satisfied, the Appellant has
approached us in Second Appeal.
3. This matter came up for hearing on 10.11.2008, 24.11.2008, 18.12.2008, 15.1.2009 and
18.3.2009. The key issue to be decided in this case is whether the AWWA is a Public Authority
within the meaning of the term as defined in Section 2(h) (d) (ii) of the Right to Information (RTI)
Act. In order to ascertain whether the AWWA as an NGO is substantially financed by the Central
Government or any of its instrumentality, the AWWA itself was asked to furnish its balance sheets
and audited accounts for the preceding five years. Besides, on a specific request from the
Appellant with reference to a publication by the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) in which it had
been claimed that out of the profits of that Department funds had been contributed to the AWWA,
the concerned Authorities in the Army Headquarters had been asked to furnish information
explaining the claim made in that publication and to specify the extent of contribution made by the
CSD to the AWWA. In addition, keeping in view the submissions of the Appellant that various
AWWA offices, down the line, are housed in Government premises and that serving Army officers
have been detailed to function in the AWWA, the concerned authorities had been asked to
provide details of those officers with a view to determining, directly or indirectly, their role in
running the AWWA.
4. In response to our direction, the Respondent Army Authorities have filed written
statement as in their communication dated 30.1.2009 enclosing therewith a letter from the CSD,
Ministry of Defence dated 21.1.2009 in which the CSD has explained that their claim as in their
publication referred to above that they have funded the AWWA out of their profits was not right
and to that extent the publication would stand corrected. In other words, the CSD has claimed
not to have provided any funds to the AWWA.
5. The Appellant, from time to time, brought to our notice the fact that the Army Authorities
have issued orders at various times assigning Staff Officer (SO) function to serving Army officers
in the AWWA. The AWWA submitted that all these officers did not perform a regular function
within the AWWA but continued to work in their respective positions within the Army and only
extended honorary liaison function to coordinate between the Indian Army and the AWWA with a
view to better implementation of various welfare activities.
6. We carefully examined the balance sheet and the audited accounts of the AWWA
submitted by the AWWA and noted that the AWWA had not received any grant or funds from the
Central Government which would constitute substantial percentage of their total income during
any particular year. As far as the Appellant’s contention regarding the housing of the AWWA in
Army/Government premises or dealing with serving Army officers to perform various tasks in
connection with AWWA is concerned, we have noted that, cumulatively, the service so rendered
and the premises so leased out to the AWWA for carrying out its activity would again not amount
to substantial financing, a key ingredient for determining a NGO’s status as a Public Authority.
7. While dealing with this case, we have noted that the Army Authorities have routinely,
from time to time, issued office orders appointing serving officers to function in the AWWA as
Staff Officers. This gives rise to the impression that the Army has a direct control on the
functioning of the AWWA. Coupled with the fact that the AWWA Offices are located in the
Government premises, the impression which the citizen carries is that AWWA is an integral part
of the Indian Army and, therefore, one can appreciate why a citizen would want to seek
information regarding the AWWA under the RTI Act from the respective Army Authorities. If the
status of the AWWA as an NGO, not substantially financed by the Central Government, has to be
maintained outside the purview of the RTI Act, it would be desirable that the impression as stated
above should be removed. We hope that the concerned Public Authority would take steps to
clarify this and to remove such impression. However, as far as the status of the AWWA is
concerned, from the records made available to us both by the Appellant and the Respondent, we
find that it cannot be termed as a Public Authority for the purpose of Section 2(h)(d)(ii) of the RTI
Act and, therefore, the RTI Act will not apply to the AWWA.
8. We appreciate the assistance extended to us in dealing with this case by various
Army Authorities, AWWA and by the Appellant himself.
9. With the above observations, we dispose off this appeal.
10. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
Sd/-
(Satyananda Mishra)
Information Commissioner
Authenticated true copy. Additional copies of orders shall be supplied against application and
payment of the charges prescribed under the Act to the CPIO of this Commission.
(Vijay Bhalla)
Assistant Registrar