MSEZ Ltd. comes under RTI Act, rules High Court

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, August 30, 2012: According to a recent High Court order, the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) Ltd. comes under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

MSEZ had claimed that it is not a public authority, but a private company and had, therefore, gone to court after the State Information Commission had demanded that it should provide information under the RTI Act.

Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar of the Karnataka High Court, in an order dated August 14, 2012, dismissed MSEZ’s appeal and ruled in favor of the Karnataka Information Commission. The court order states, “The petitioner company Mangalore SEZ Limited, Mangalore, can be classified as a public authority and non government organization, which is substantially financed directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government,” and is, therefore, “bound to furnish the information as sought for by private respondents.”

MSEZ had refused to accept applications under the RTI Act and had withheld information from its project displaced families on grounds that it was not a public authority, but a private company, in spite of the fact that its major shareholders are KIADB and ONGC.