S. MURALIDHAR

JUDGMENT

1. Is the Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd. („IFCI Ltd.?) a „public authority? within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 („RTI Act?)? That is the question that arises for consideration in this writ petition, which challenges an order dated 31st May 2007 passed by the Central Information Commission („CIC?). The CIC answered the question in the affirmative.

2. A complaint was made by the Respondent before the CIC stating that the Petitioner IFCI Ltd. had not published particulars on its website nor appointed Central Public Information Officers (“CPIOs?) which it was required to do in terms of Section 4, Section 5(1) and 5(2) of the RTI Act respectively, on account of which information available with the IFCI Ltd. concerning the complaints made to it was not able to be accessed. In response to the said complaint, the Petitioner IFCI Ltd. took the stand that it was not a public authority within the meaning of the RTI Act.

3. In the appeal before it, the CIC framed two questions: first, whether an institution established under a law, would cease to be a public authority once that law was repealed? And second