HC junks BPCL's plea against CIC order

The Delhi High Court today dismissed a plea of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) against an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the PSU oil firm to disclose the rent paid by it for dealer-leased outlets in Uttarakhand.
A bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru rejected BPCL's plea that the information sought is exempted from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act saying the details sought were "clearly in public interest".
"The petitioner (BPCL) has contended that it can't be asked to disclose the information sought as it falls under the exemption clause of the RTI Act. We find the contention wholly without merit.

"Information sought only deals with rent paid by petitioner company for dealer leased outlets. It does not contain any confidential information, trade secrets, intellectual property or commercial secrets.
"It is clearly in public interest and should be available for scrutiny," the court said.
BPCL had challenged the CIC's January 28, 2014 order directing the oil company to provide the dealer-wise rent paid by it for outlets leased by its dealers in Uttarakhand.

The commission had also rejected the company's plea that the information sought falls under the exemption clause.
The commission had passed the order on the plea of Jai Pal Singh who through an RTI application on January 22,2013 had sought various details including the dealer-wise rent paid by BPCL for outlets in Uttarakhand.

During the brief proceedings, the court observed that the oil company was violating CIC's order and added "you are a public sector undertaking. Public should know what you are paying for. Make it transparent.