The Kerala High Court held on Tuesday that Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) would come within the limits of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Replying to a petition filed by M.R. Ajayan, editor of Green Kerala News, CIAL had contended that it would not come under the RTI Act since it was not a public property.
Apart from maintaining that the body would come under the RTI Act, a Division Bench of Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. also ordered that a public information officer (PIO) be appointed at the airport. The court fixed a 15-day timeline for CIAL to take steps to become completely RTI compliant and said that no request for extension of the timeline would be entertained.
After perusing a history of cases in this regard, the court said it appeared that the managing director of CIAL had filed writ petitions and appeals without the approval of the agency’s board of directors and the Chief Minister, who chairs the board, for hiding many important actions/decisions from the public and shareholders of CIAL. “We deprecate such practices and direct the Chief Secretary [CS], who too is a board member, to take measures to prevent such instances,” the court said and directed the CS to file an action taken report within 15 days.
