Hyderabad high court: Not all shrines fall under RTI ambit
TNN | Dec 9, 2018, 05.53 AM IST
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad high court has held that religious institutions like temples, churches and mosques that are not funded by the government do not fall within the purview of the Right to Information Act-2005 (RTI).
Justice Challa Kodanda Ram pronounced the judgment after hearing nearly 100 temples and their trustees from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who had challenged the decisions of their states' endowments departments, which had asked these religious entities to furnish information regarding their administrative activities under the RTI Act.
Stating that these temples and their officials do not fall under the definition of public authority, as defined in the RTI Act, the judge said the question of these entities following the directives issued by endowments department officials in respect of RTI does not arise.
The judge also set aside several such directives of endowments department officials asking these temples to designate some of their staff as public information officers or assistant public information officers.
‘RTI Act needs to be amended’
The judge agreed with the contention of senior counsel R Raghunandan Rao, who argued the case for temples, that for a temple to be called a public authority it should be either set up by the state, statute or controlled by it. Since none of the temples are established by the government, they cannot be brought under RTI Act, he said.
Though the two state governments are exercising some control over these temples by appointing trust boards, resolving temple staff disputes through endowment tribunals, among others, does not bestow on the state the power to bring these temples under the purview of the RTI Act, Justice Kodanda Ram said.
However, the judge said nowadays since religious institutions receive enormous donations from various sources, it is desirable to amend the RTI Act to at least bring all the registered temples and religious institutions having income over and above a particular limit under the RTI Act.
TNN | Dec 9, 2018, 05.53 AM IST
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad high court has held that religious institutions like temples, churches and mosques that are not funded by the government do not fall within the purview of the Right to Information Act-2005 (RTI).
Justice Challa Kodanda Ram pronounced the judgment after hearing nearly 100 temples and their trustees from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who had challenged the decisions of their states' endowments departments, which had asked these religious entities to furnish information regarding their administrative activities under the RTI Act.
Stating that these temples and their officials do not fall under the definition of public authority, as defined in the RTI Act, the judge said the question of these entities following the directives issued by endowments department officials in respect of RTI does not arise.
The judge also set aside several such directives of endowments department officials asking these temples to designate some of their staff as public information officers or assistant public information officers.
‘RTI Act needs to be amended’
The judge agreed with the contention of senior counsel R Raghunandan Rao, who argued the case for temples, that for a temple to be called a public authority it should be either set up by the state, statute or controlled by it. Since none of the temples are established by the government, they cannot be brought under RTI Act, he said.
Though the two state governments are exercising some control over these temples by appointing trust boards, resolving temple staff disputes through endowment tribunals, among others, does not bestow on the state the power to bring these temples under the purview of the RTI Act, Justice Kodanda Ram said.
However, the judge said nowadays since religious institutions receive enormous donations from various sources, it is desirable to amend the RTI Act to at least bring all the registered temples and religious institutions having income over and above a particular limit under the RTI Act.
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