APMC a public authority: Info panel

The Agriculture Product Market Committee, which engages in wholesale trading, was declared a public authority by the information commission. The order for the same was given on April 20. It was given by a joint bench of Thanksy Thekkekara, state information commissioner (Konkan bench) and Ajitkumar Jain, state information commissioner (Brihanmumbai bench). The order comes after an earlier order by the Bombay High Court which stated that APMC is a public authority.

The order was given after a Right to Information (RTI) application was made by Thane resident Sharad Dhumal. Dhumal in his application had sought information about the government audit done for the period between 2006 and 2014. He was denied information by the public information officer. While the first appellate authority did not give any order during the hearing, the public information officer, who is the secretary of APMC, contented that it is not a public authority and hence RTI does not apply to it. He even attached an earlier Aurangabad bench of information commission order which stated that it is not a public authority.

During the hearing, the commissioners stated that as per the definition of public authority under the RTI Act, APMC was established or constituted by an act of government order and hence it was a public authority. It went on to state that the APMC appoint a public information officer (PIO) and first appellate authority (FAA) and provide the information to the applicant.