Delhi High Court Criticizes MCD for RTI Act Non-Compliance

The Delhi High Court has strongly rebuked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for neglecting its duty to proactively publicize legislative records and proceedings, even after two decades since the Right to Information (RTI) Act was enacted. A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia voiced their concern during a hearing on Wednesday.

The court emphasized that Section 4 of the RTI Act mandates public authorities to proactively share information to minimize the need to resort to the formal RTI application process. The bench asserted that the MCD could not be exempted from adhering to this crucial provision.

The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO, the Centre for Youth, Culture, Law and Environment, which sought the uploading of the MCD's legislative records, proceedings of the house, resolutions passed by the standing committees, and all other public information on its website in a time-bound manner.

During the proceedings, the MCD's counsel assured the court that corrective actions were being taken, and the matter of uploading the information was under consideration by the competent authority. The counsel stated that the "process" to upload the information was "underway at the corporation level" but would require some time.

The court responded sharply to this assurance. The bench questioned the delay, stating, "Thanks to you for undertaking this exercise after 20 years. We are so thankful". The court further added, "What process? You are required to upload this information within 120 days and then on a regular interval. What have you been doing? This Act was passed in 2005. It is 20 years down the line,".

The High Court directed the MCD to submit an affidavit detailing the specific steps taken to implement Section 4 of the RTI Act, focusing on providing information to the public through proactive publication. The court underscored the purpose of Section 4, stating that by publishing such information, the public will have minimum resort to the use of the procedures under the RTI Act.