RTI Act relevant to Century Club as it’s a public authority: Karnataka High Court

The High Court of Karnataka has dominated that 7.5 acres of land given by the Maharaja of Mysore in 1913 to Century Club, located on the land abutting Cubbon Park in Bengaluru, quantities to “a considerable contribution of financing by the State” to convey the membership underneath the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Patron-in-chief

The membership was began by then Maharaja of Mysore Narasimha Raja Wadiyar, who was its patron-in-chief, and Sir M. Visvesvaraya. “… if the valuation of the land of seven.5 acres as of at present is considered, the identical would run into tons of of crores if not hundreds, and the contribution made by the members of the membership, as membership charges or another head of account, pales into insignificance. In that view of the matter, it’s clearly and categorically established that there’s a substantial contribution made by the State, i.e. the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore, by means of the Maharaja of Mysore”, the courtroom mentioned.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj handed the order whereas dismissing a petition filed by the membership, which had questioned the 2018 order handed by the State Information Commission (SIC).

Land given by govt.

The SIC had mentioned that the membership must be handled as a “public authority” underneath the RTI Act because it has benefited from the land given by the State authorities in 1913 whereas directing the membership to offer data underneath the RTI Act to the general public.

The courtroom mentioned that the membership had not made any fee to the then Maharaja of Mysore or the Kingdom of Mysore for the land and no particular doc has been positioned on report to point that the mentioned land belonged personally to the Maharaja of Mysore.

Not private property

“The grant made within the identify of the Maharaja of Mysore would additionally point out that it isn’t the non-public property of the Maharaja,” the courtroom famous.

On the membership’s competition that day-to-day actions, bills, upkeep and so forth., are carried out from the contribution of the members, the courtroom mentioned that the very fact nonetheless stays that with out the land, the actions of the membership couldn’t be run.