The Delhi High Court on Tuesday quashed an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which had held that EVMs fall within the definition of ‘information’ under the RTI Act.
Justice Jayant Nath passed the order on a plea by the Election Commission (EC) challenging the order of the CIC dated February 12 that held that EVM is an information under the RTI Act.
The CIC’s order had come on a plea by an applicant, who had sought access to an EVM maintained by the EC under the RTI Act. The EC had said that EVMs do not fall under the scope of the RTI Act, which is primarily concerned with documentary records and representative models.
“EVMs maintained by the petitioner [EC] are utilised in the conduct of elections all over the country in accordance with law. Further, the petitioner also maintains a small number of EVMs for the purposes of training of election officials and use in awareness programmes under the strict supervision of the petitioner,” the poll panel had told the court.
‘No sample or model’
“It is further submitted that the petitioner does not maintain any EVM in sample or model form,” it said, adding that all EVMs were securely stored in accordance with the manual on EVMs issued by the EC and the Representation of People Act.
The CIC had in February this year held that “the EVM which is available with the respondent [poll panel] in a material form and also as samples, as admitted by the respondent during the hearing, is an information under the RTI Act”.
The CIC order had come on a plea of Razaak K. Haidar who contended that as per Section 2(f) and 2(i) of the RTI Act, the definition of 'information' and 'record' includes model or any sample.
