In a far-reaching decision, the Delhi High Court has ruled that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games (OCCG) are public authorities as defined in the Right to Information Act 2005.
Petitions dismissed
Justice S. Ravindra Bhatt, while dismissing the petitions from the IOA and the OCCG which challenged the decision of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that they were subject to RTI rules, stated that these bodies were bound to give effect to the provisions of the Act.
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The IOA, confronted with a ruling by the CIC that it was answerable under the RTI Act had gone to the court arguing that it was an autonomous body governed by the Olympic Charter and the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOA also contended that it received only “limited assistance” from the Government and the OCCG argued that it was governed by the rules of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and had only received a loan from the Government to conduct the Games.
The CIC had noted in its order in 2006 that on perusal of the accounts of IOA for the year 2003-04 it was found that of the total expenditure of Rs 392 lakhs, the financing by Central and State governments, either by way of grants or otherwise was about Rs.320 lakhs constituting roughly 80 per cent of the expenditure.
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Justice Bhatt stated that the funding by the Government was part of the IOA’s balance sheet and it depended on such financing to assist travel of sportsmen and managers.
For effective working
“Without such funding the IOA would perhaps not be able to work effectively.
Taking into consideration all these factors, it is held that the IOA is “public authority” under the meaning of that expression under the Act,” the judge stated in his order.
As for the OCCG, the court stated that it had reaped the benefit of substantial amounts received by way of licensing fee, sponsorship fee etc and the Central Government did not share these revenues.
The Government had also agreed to allow the use of stadia and other infrastructure without any charges being levied on the OCCG.
Even on the ‘loan’ that the organising committee was supposed to be receiving from the Government the latter was not going to charge interest in case no surplus was generated by the OCCG.
“Undeniably, the “investment” if one may term that to be so, is not a priority one. In these circumstances, the court concludes that the financing or funding of the Games Committee, concededly a non-governmental organization, is substantial; it is therefore, a public authority, within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the Act.”
The petitioners were ordered to set up appropriate mechanisms to enable access to information held and required to be held by them within 30 days.
The Union Sports Ministry had consistently taken the stand that the IOA and the National federations, funded by the Government, were bound to be accountable and answerable and would be covered by the RTI Act.