NGOs who receive any govt fund to come under RTI: SC

In an important ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday held that an NGO, educational institution or hospital, substantially financed or granted land for free or discounted price by the government would be a public authority amenable to the provisions of the Right to Information Act.

A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said the RTI Act was enacted with the purpose of bringing transparency in public dealings and probity in public life.

“If NGOs or other bodies get substantial finance from the government, we find no reason why any citizen cannot ask for information to find out whether his/her money which has been given to an NGO or any other body is being used for the requisite purpose or not,” the top court said.

It said that whether an NGO or body is substantially financed by the government is a question which has to be determined on the facts of each case.

“There may be cases where the finance is more than 50% but still may not be called substantially financed. Supposing a small NGO which has a total capital of Rs 10,000 gets a grant of Rs 5,000 from the government, though this grant maybe 50%, it cannot be termed to be a substantial contribution. On the other hand, if a body or an NGO gets hundreds of crores of rupees as a grant but that amount is less than 50%, the same can still be termed to be substantially financed,” it added.

The court said no hard and fast rule can be laid down in this regard since substantial financing can be both direct or indirect.

“To give an example, if land in a city is given free of cost or on heavy discount to hospitals, educational institutions or such other body, this in itself could also be substantial financing,” it said.

The court passed its judgment by holding that each of the colleges run by D A V College Trust and Management Society, New Delhi was a public authority under the RTI Act on the ground that those were receiving grants from the government as well as salaries for teachers and staff from the government.