National Commodity and Derivative Exchange Limited, which trades in agricultural commodity futures, does not come under the ambit of RTI Act and is not liable to provide any information under it, the Central Information Commission has held.
The Commission said NCDEX does not receive any direct or indirect funding by government, one of the mandatory requirements to bring an organisation under the transparency law.
"Despite the fact that 46 per cent of the equity capital of NCDEX is held by public sector undertakings, NCDEX cannot be said to be 'public authority' as there is no direct or indirect funding by an "appropriate Government".
"We, therefore, hold that NCDEX is not a public authority and is, therefore, not liable to provide any information...Under the RTI Act," Information Commissioner M L Sharma held in a recent order.
The case pertains to Jodhpur-based RTI applicant Indubala Agrawal who sought details of some records from the exchange, which in turn rejected the request, saying it was not a public authority as per the RTI Act.
Anil Agrawal, who was representing Indubala during the hearing, pleaded before the Commission that the exchange has been "notified" vide notification under the Forward Contracts (Regulation Act), 1952.
Agarwal said since NCDEX has been created by a government notification, it fulfils one of the mandatory criteria for bringing an organisation under the Act hence it should provide all the information to him.
NCDEX, which commenced future trading in agriculture commodities from December 2003, was 'recognised' by Government of India on the recommendation of Future Markets Commission.
He said equity participation by public sector companies amounts to indirect government financing as its money is channelised through these companies.
Even if it is held that equity participation of PSUs is only 46 per cent, this may be reasonably be interpreted to mean "substantial financing" as mentioned in the RTI Act.
The CIC did not consider the argument that the exchange is created by a government notification and drew parallels with the case of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), which was earlier exempted from disclosure under the RTI Act by it.
