HYDERABAD: Justice Madhavi Devi of the Telangana High Court has ruled that withholding information related to the Indiramma Housing Scheme is in complete violation of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The court made it clear that it is the responsibility of public authorities to provide information sought by citizens under the RTI Act.
Justice Madhavi Devi was hearing a writ petition filed by Gadipelli Ganesh, a law student from Narsimhulapet in Mahbubabad district, challenging the officials’ decision to share information related to the number of housing scheme beneficiaries, eligibility norms, government orders and other details.
Despite being a Below Poverty Line (BPL) applicant, Ganesh was denied free information under Section 7(5) of the RTI Act, which mandates free supply of information to BPL applicants. The petitioner argued that the denial of information was arbitrary, illegal and violative of fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The state argued that officials acted in accordance with GO Ms No 454 dated October 13, 2005. But the court ruled that the said GO was not applicable in this case and reaffirmed that the Public Information Officer was bound by law to provide the requested information free of cost to the petitioner.
Accordingly, the court directed the authorities to furnish the information to Ganesh free of cost under the RTI Act. The court made it clear that free access to information for BPL applicants under Section 7(5) of the Act establishes that denial of information amounts to violation of fundamental rights under the Constitution.