The Delhi High Court has remarked that giving judgment on the policy framework of an organisation and directing change of policies are not envisaged under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Justice Jayant Nath quashed a Central Information Commission (CIC) November 11, 2018 order to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to revise the present policy for the selection of meritorious students under the ‘Bal Shree scheme’.
The court said the directions were “clearly beyond the statutory framework and powers of the CIC”. The Ministry had appealed against the CIC order before the High Court on the ground that it was “bad in law” as the direction given was “beyond the scope, purview and ambit of the RTI Act”. While quashing the Commission’s order, the court said: “Giving judgment on the policy framework of an organisation and directing a change of policy are not envisaged in the RTI Act”. The CIC order had come on an RTI applicant’s plea to the National Bal Bhawan seeking the details regarding the age limit for Bal Bhawan membership and whether it was necessary for being eligible for a ‘Bal Shree award’.
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Sought a revamp
In its order, CIC had said that “for selection of meritorious students [under the Bal Shree scheme], there was a lack of clarity at the District, State and National-level, which requires a complete revamp and reformulation of the policy”.