The main legal point established in the judgment is that entities receiving government aid and established for public purposes are bound by the provisions of the Right to Information Act, emphasizing the importance of transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties the petition is heard finally.

2. This Writ Petition takes exception to the judgment and order, dated 27.12.2012, passed by in Appeal No. 669 of 2012 by the State Information Commission, Bench at Nashik and also the order, dated 23.5.2011, passed by the appellate authority/Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Shahada, District Nandurbar.

3. The background facts leading for filing the Writ Petition, as disclosed in the memo of the petition, are as under:-

It is the case of the petitioner, namely Shahada Taluka Co-operative Education Society Limited, Shahada, District Nandurbar that the said society has been registered under the provisions of the Co-operative Societies Act in the year 1952 i.e. prior to coming into existence of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act and the said registration is continued inadvertently and later on in the year 1955 it came to be registered under the provisions of the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950.

4. It is the case of the petitioner society that on 16.3.2011 the respondent no.1 herein submitted an application seeking information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 before the petitioner society in the capacity of Chairman of the Shahada Taluka Cooperative Education Society.

5. Petitioner society rejected the application of the respondent no.1 on the ground that the said application was received on 17.3.2011. It is also the contention of the petitioner society that, as the petitioner society is registered under the Societies Registration Act and under the Bombay Public Trust Act, as per the Right to Information Act the petitioner society does not fall under the definition of “public authority”, and hence the petitioner society is not duty bound to supply information sought by the respondent no.1.

6. Respondent no.1, aggrieved by the rejection of application, preferred Appeal No. 1 of 2011 before the respondent no.2. The petitioner society appeared and filed its written statement contending that, the petitioner society is registered under the Cooperative Societies Act and the Bombay Public Trust Act. It is the case of the petitioner that the respondent no.2 has no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal and therefore the appeal is not maintainable. The petitioner society contends that since the Head Master is appointed as an Information Officer, the petitioner society is not duty bound to provide the information.

7. Respondent no.2 allowed the appeal filed by the respondent no.1 holding that since the petitioner society is registered under the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 and Rules thereunder, it is covered under Section 2(h)(d)(2) of the Right to Information Act, and accordingly directed the petitioner society to provide the information applied by the respondent no.1.

8. Being aggrieved by the order passed by the respondent no.2 allowing the appeal filed by the respondent no.1, the petitioner society preferred Appeal No. 669 of 2011 before the State Information Commission, Nashik. The State Information Commissioner, upon hearing the parties was pleased to reject the said appeal by its judgment and order, dated 27.12.2012. Hence by this petition, the petitioner society prays for quashing and setting aside the judgment and orders passed by the State Information Commission, Nashik.

9. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the authorities below have committed error in holding that the petitioner society is “public authority” as per Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act. In fact, it ought to have considered that the petitioner is not appointed as a Public Information Officer under the Right to Information Act. The authorities have failed in interpreting the meaning of the Cooperative Society and the institutions run by the Cooperative Societies, as the petitioner society is not receiving any Government aid directly. The aid is received by the Schools