Held : Power and accountability go hand in hand – While declaring that all citizens shall have the ‘right to information’ u/s.3 of the Act, the corelative ‘duty’ in the form of obligation of public authorities is recognized in s.4 of the Act – The core of the right created u/s.3 in reality rests on the duty to perform statutory obligations – The purpose and object of the statute will be accomplished only if the principle of accountability governs the relationship between ‘right holders’ and ‘duty bearers’ – The Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions have a prominent place and statutory recognition – The Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions directed to continuously monitor the implementation of the mandate of s.4 of the Act as also prescribed by the Department of Personnel and Training in its Guidelines and Memorandums issued from time to time – Commissioners entitled to issue recommendations under sub-section (5) of s.25 to public authorities for taking necessary steps for complying the provisions of the Act. [Paras 22, 25 and 26] Right to Information Act, 2005 – s.25 – Mechanism of ‘Monitoring and Reporting’ – Discussed.
LIST OF CITATIONS AND OTHER REFERENCES
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India v. Shaunak H. Satya and others (2011) 8 SCC 781 : [2011] 14 SCR 328; Government (NCT of Delhi) v. Union of India (2018) 8 SCC 501 : [2018] 7 SCR 1; Vijay Rajmohan v. CBI (2023) 1 SCC 329 – relied on.
Central Board of Secondary Education and another v. Aditya Bandopadhyay and others (2011) 8 SCC 497 : [2011] 11 SCR 1028; Verhoeven, Marie -Emmanuelle v. Union of India and others (2016) 6 SCC 456 : [2016] 3 SCR 48; Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2020) 5 SCC 481 : [2019] 16 SCR 424 – referred to. OTHER CASE DETAILS INCLUDING IMPUGNED
ORDER AND APPEARANCES
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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