In a decision which has shocked consumers, the National Consumer
Commission has reversed itself and ruled that applicants for information
under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RIA) are not consumers.
RIA came into effect in 2005. Before 2005, there was Karnataka
Right to Information Act which was very similar to RIA. Under both the
Acts, a person who applies for information pays an application fee and
hence providing information becomes a service rendered for a
consideration under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA). It was with this
logic that the National Commission had ruled in on 28-5-09 (in Revision
Petition No. 1975/2005) that an applicant for information is a consumer
under CPA and if the concerned official does not provide information
within one month, he can be held guilty of deficiency in service and
punished under CPA. The decision of the National Commission was with
reference to the Karnataka Right to Information Act, but since it is
very similar to RIA, the same logic should hold for RIA also. Numerous
consumer courts have relied on this decision to punish, under CPA,
officials who did not provide information in time.
This was a boon to RIA applicants. One can also prosecute the
errant official under RIA, but RIA provides only for punishment of
officials, but the applicant does not get any compensation for his
troubles. Thus CPA provides better justice than RIA and the applicants
could both punish the errant officials and obtain compensation also
under CPA.
But in a decision given on 31-3-2011 (in Revision Petition No. 4061/2010),
the National Commission has reversed itself and declared that RIA
applicants are not consumers under CPA since there is a remedy available
for the applicant under Section 19 of RIA. It is well-established that
CPA is an additional remedy available to consumers even when there is
another law which is applicable. Unless there is an express provision in
the other law which ousts the jurisdiction of CPA (such as the Railway
Claims Tribunal Act regarding railway claims or the Motor Vehicles Act
regarding compensation in road accidents), one can always make use of
CPA as an easy and inexpensive means of obtaining justice. This fact has
been reiterated countless times both by the National Commission and the
Supreme Court, but has been inexplicably ignored in the present
decision of the National Commission.
As a result, RIA applicants who do not get the information
within one month can no longer approach the consumer courts for justice.
This is a big blow to RIA applicants.
An NGO of Hyderabad by the name Gareeb Guide International has
now filed a PIL before the Supreme Court to overturn the National
Commission decision. Consumers are hoping that the PIL will succeed.