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2015 (3) TMI 942 - HC - Indian LawsRefusal of information sought by appellants - Whether the Office of Attorney General of India is a 'public authority’ within the meaning of section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 - Held that:- term "authority" as used in the opening sentence of Section 2(h) of the Act cannot be interpreted in a restrictive sense. The expression "authority" would also include all persons or bodies that have been conferred a power to perform the functions entrusted to them. Merely because the bulk of the duties of the AGI are advisory, the same would not render the office of the AGI any less authoritative than other constitutional functionaries. There are various bodies, which are entrusted with 'staff functions’ (i.e. which are advisory in nature) as distinct from 'line functions’. The expression "authority" as used in Section 2(h) cannot be read as a term to exclude bodies or entities which are, essentially, performing advisory functions. - there would be a practical difficulty as the office of the Attorney General is only a skeletal office which only consists of the appointee and the appointee’s is personal staff. In my view, this cannot be considered as a reason for excluding the applicability of the Act on a public authority. - impugned order is set aside and the matter is remanded to the CIC to consider the other contentions urged by the petitioners before the CIC. - Decided in favour of appellants.
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