The Central Information Commission (CIC) has held that whether an entity is a public authority can only be determined under the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and not on the basis of certificates given by ministries.

In his order, Information Commissioner A N Tiwari said certificates given by ministries or government departments about an organisation being or not being a public authority have no validity and advised the ministries and government departments to refrain from exempting public bodies from the purview of RTI Act.

The ruling came after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) declined to provide information on certain IFCI (Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd) bonds to appellant V T Gokhale on the grounds that IFCI had claimed that it was not a "public authority" and had produced some communication from the Ministry of Finance to prove its case.

Holding this to be untenable, the CIC said: "The fact that whether an entity is a public authority or not can only be determined by the authority competent to take such a decision. Under the provisions of the RTI Act, not only is it incorrect for entities like IFCI to seek such certificates from the ministries or departments, it is even more incorrect for such ministries or departments to issue such certificates. The Commission would advise the ministries and departments to refrain from such actions."

The Commission in one of its earlier decisions had ruled IFCI to be a public authority under the RTI Act as 23.53 per cent of the company's finances were provided by the the Government. It also noted that although IFCI was currently a private company, it was established by the Government as part of a parliamentary legislation in 1948.

The CIC sent back Gokhale's request to SEBI to consider it afresh saying though SEBI has uncritically accepted the so-called certificate from the Ministry of Finance as a final proof that IFCI is not a public authority, it should examine IFCI's claims under the provisions of the RTI Act.