Making an important comment on a case related to providing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Delhi High Court said that raising questions on the purpose of seeking information is not in the law.

The court said that the purpose of RTI is to bring transparency and if there is any information then it should be made public. Unless the disclosure is exempted under law. The court made the above remarks while hearing a petition seeking details of the Arogya Setu mobile application. In view of the outbreak of Corona epidemic, this app was launched by the Central Government on April 2, 2020.

The bench of Justice Subramaniam Prasad made the above remarks when the advocate appearing for the Central Government questioned the motive and agenda of the petitioner for seeking information.

Petitioner and RTI activist Saurav Das has also challenged the Central Information Commission (CIC) order dated November 24, 2020.

Das has sought in the petition to cancel the final order passed by the CIC on November 24, 2020, in which punitive proceedings under the RTI Act were canceled against officials of various agencies for not providing public records related to the Arogya Setu App. 

Advocate Rahul Sharma, appearing for the ministry, said whatever information he had has already been provided to the petitioner and no other information was available with him.

On this, the court adjourned the hearing till November 2, directing the Central Government to file an affidavit within four weeks. In the petition, a demand has been made to direct the CIC to conduct a fresh hearing of the petitioner under the provisions of the RTI Act.