Bombay HC: Public Authorities Need Not Collect Private Information To Answer RTI Queries

Mumbai, August 19, 2026: The Bombay High Court has held that public authorities are not required under the Right to Information Act, 2005, to collect information from private entities merely because an RTI applicant has sought it.

A Bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram Shirsat made the observation while setting aside orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to obtain information from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and provide it to RTI applicants.

SEBI and BSE had challenged the CIC’s directions before the High Court.

CIC Interpretation Rejected

The CIC had interpreted the term “information” under the RTI Act to mean that SEBI was required not only to disclose information already available in its records but also to obtain information from third parties such as BSE to answer RTI queries.

The High Court rejected this interpretation, holding that the fact that SEBI has regulatory powers to seek information from entities such as BSE does not mean that it has a corresponding obligation to gather such information for RTI applicants.

“The provisions (of the RTI Act) do not indicate that a public authority, like SEBI in the present case, which is a regulatory body empowered to call upon third parties to provide information in terms of its own governing statute, is under an obligation to obtain information from third parties to satisfy persons applying for such information,” the court said.

RTI Covers Information Already Held

The bench noted that the RTI Act requires a public authority to provide information that is already held by it. It does not require the authority to act as an information-gathering agency by collecting or compiling material that it does not possess.

SEBI had argued that requiring it to obtain information from third parties would go beyond the duties imposed on public authorities under the RTI Act.

The High Court found merit in the argument and referred to earlier Supreme Court rulings which have clarified that the RTI Act does not oblige public authorities to collect or collate information that is not already available with them.

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CIC Orders Quashed

The bench held that the CIC’s reasoning was contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court.

“We find that the said reasoning of the CIC is in the teeth of the position of law clarified by the Supreme Court and therefore, it cannot be sustained and the impugned orders deserve to be quashed and set aside,” the court said.

The High Court accordingly quashed the CIC orders challenged by SEBI and BSE.

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