Army Welfare Housing Organisation is nothing but an extension of the Army and comes under the ambit of the Right to Information Act, a full bench of the Central Information Commission has held.
"We hold that the AWHO, though on paper a separate entity, is nothing but an extension of the Army by virtue of being under the all pervasive control of the senior serving Army officers, including the AG. We, therefore, hold that the AWHO is public authority under the RTI Act," the Commission held.
The Full Bench of the Commission comprising Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra and Information Commissioners ML Sharma and Vijay Sharma said regular deputation of Army officers to the AWHO on the terms and conditions determined by the Defence Ministry also reinforces the impression that in quintessence the AWHO is nothing but an Army organisation.
AWHO was opposing bringing it under the ambit of the RTI Act arguing that it is a society registered with the Registrar of Societies with the objective of providing dwelling units to serving and retired Army personnel and their widows on 'no profit no loss' basis.
During the hearing, AWHO counsel explained at length that it is a private body where senior army officers are on its board of management are in their ex-officio capacity, having advisory role and do not get any renumeration from the organisation for their services.
"In sum and substance, it is advocate Tewari's contention that despite overwhelming presence of senior Army officers in the Board of Management of the AWHO, it is not controlled either by the Army Headquarters or by the Defence Ministry," the Commission noted in its order.
On the other hand, RTI applicant Lt Col (Retd) R Bansal said the organisation was an inseparable part of army and presented a broad structure of the force where AWHO appears under the Adjutant General's branch.
"Both the Chief of Army Staff and AG have complete control over the affairs of the AWHO. It is his contention that when Army is a public authority per se, the AWHO, being an inseparable part of the Army, cannot claim that it is not public authority under the RTI Act," the Commission noted.
To buttress his point, he also said that Board of Management of the AWHO entirely comprises Army officers -- three Lieutenant Generals, seven Major Generals and a number of Brigadiers and Colonels.
Agreeing with the appellant, the transparency panel held that all major decisions regarding the functioning of the AWHO are taken by the Board of Management which is under the pervasive control of the serving Army officers, with the AG as its Head.
"The Adjutant General has always been the ex-officio Chairman of the AWHO ever since its inception... In view of this, we have no hesitation to come to the conclusion that AHQ controls the affairs of the AWHO through the Adjutant General for all intents and purposes," it said.
The Commission also took note of loans given by Defence Ministry saying three instances of grant of loan by the MoD to the AWHO have come on record.
"In our opinion, loans cannot be construed as grants as loans are repayable by the borrower. These loans simply reflect the MoDs sympathetic and helpful attitude towards the AWHO," it said while directing the CPIO to conform with the provisions of the RTI Act within four weeks.