AWHO secy denying info on sale of flats casts 'murky shadow' on its affairs, says CIC; matter referred to Army Chief

The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Wednesday said an Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO) official not providing information on sale of flats in Noida casts a "rather murky shadow on the affairs of the organisation" and referred the matter to the Army Chief.

The transparency panel made the comments while hearing an RTI applicant's plea seeking information from the Army Headquarters on sale of flats of a defaulter private builder's project at Noida's Sector 143 to Army personnel as advertised by the AWHO in February 2018.

During the hearing AWHO Secretary Colonel Abhishek said he would not be sharing the information under the RTI with the Army Headquarters even after the CIC's orders.

To this, Information Commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha marked his order to the Army Chief, who is the AWHO's patron, to "reflect upon the obscurity in the affairs of the AWHO exhorted by its secretary".

Under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, only public authorities, which fulfil given criteria under the law, are answerable to applications seeking information.

The Delhi High Court had observed that the AWHO is not a public authority under the Act.

However, the RTI Act also empowers a chief public information officer (CPIO) of a public authority to gather information from a private body which can be accessed by it under any other law in force for the time being.

The applicant approached the CIC, the highest adjudicating body in RTI Act matters, after the Army Headquarters did not provide any information.

For the hearing, Col Abhishek was accompanied by the Army Headquarters' CPIO, even though he was not required to be present or make any submissions, Sinha noted.

"Col Abhishek, Secretary, AWHO nonetheless insisted that even if the commission treats the AHWO as a private body and directs the CPIO, IHQ of the MoD (Ministry of Defence) (Army), to access information from the AWHO in accordance with Section 2(f) of the RTI Act, he will not provide any information.

"Even further, he emphasised vehemently that if the AWHO allows access of information to the IHQ of MoD (Army) on the commission's directions, it will be set as a precedent," Sinha said.

Noting that the assertions of the AWHO representative to not part with information "casts a rather murky shadow on the affairs of the organisation", the commissioner marked his order to the Army Chief to take note of his observations and "reflect upon the obscurity in the affairs of the AWHO exhorted by its secretary."