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EVM is ‘information’ under Right to Information Act: CIC
Why in news?
- An Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is “information” under the Right to Information Act, the Central Information Commission has ruled.
- The Commission was hearing the appeal of an RTI applicant who had asked the Election Commission for an EVM but was denied.
More in news
What CIC ruled?
- the EVM which is available with the respondent [ECI] in a material form and also is an information under the RTI Act.
Definition of information under RTI Act includes:
- Any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form.
Validity of terms models and samples:
- The CIC upheld applicant Razaak K. Haidar’s contention that the terms “models” and “samples” should apply to an EVM.
- models/samples of EVM are available with the ECI, but the same are only kept for training purpose by the ECI, and not saleable to the general public.
Fresh argument
- ECI Under-Secretary Soumyajit Ghosh argued that the information was exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act.
- As the software installed in the machines is an intellectual property of a third party, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of the third party concerned.
Source
The Hindu