BENGALURU: A division bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Friday upheld a single judge’s order stating that the Century Club is a ‘public authority’ under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice Venkatesh Naik T of the bench passed the order dismissing an appeal by the club challenging the order of the single judge passed on July 8, 2025.
City-based advocate S Umapathy filed an application seeking information about the club under the RTI Act in 2012. But the club stated that it is not a public authority as defined under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
Therefore, the advocate filed a complaint before the Karnataka Information Commission stating that 7.5 acres of land was granted by the then Government of Mysuru to the club free of cost in 1913. This being the admitted position, the same would amount to ‘substantial finance’ by the government, and hence, the club is a public authority, he argued.
Considering this, the commission passed an order in 2017 that the club is a public authority. It was challenged by the club before the single judge in 2018, who dismissed the same.
Against this order, the club filed the appeal before the division bench, which dismissed it noting that if the present value of the land is taken into consideration, it would run into hundreds of crores or even thousands, and the contribution made by members of the club through membership fee or any other head of account pales into insignificance. Thereby, the club is for all practical purposes considered to be a ‘public authority’. Hence, the provisions of the RTI are applicable to the club, the bench said.