After hearing all the arguments and examination of the facts presented, a division bench of Delhi High Court said that the judgement of the single judge does not call for interference.
A division bench of Delhi High Court took nearly 16 years to uphold the ruling of a single bench stating the Right to Information (RTI) Act applies to the National Stock Exchange of India (NSEI).A single judge bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, in the ruling dated April 15, 2010, had said: “It is held that the petitioner is a ‘public authority’ as it is an ‘authority or institution of self-government‘, constituted or established by notification or order issued by the appropriate Government.” Further, it is also held that the petitioner is controlled by the appropriate Government. The writ petition accordingly has no merit and is dismissed, it said of NSE’s petition.NSE went for appeal.After hearing all the arguments and examination of the facts presented, a division bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla said that the judgement of the single judge does not call for interference. It also agreed with the said ruling that, though the order under Section 4(3) of the SCRA (Securities Contracts Regulation Act) was issued by the SEBI (Securties and Exchange Board of India), it has to be treated as an order of the Central Government, as the SEBI was acting, while issuing the order, as a delegatee of the Central Government under Section 29 of the SCRA.“The learned Single Judge is, therefore, correct in his view that the NSEI would qualify as a “public authority” not only under the second part, but also under the first part of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act,” the division bench said.The division bench highlighted some portions of the ruling by the single judge where it was said, “NSEI qualifies as an ‘authority or body’.” Further, the words “established or constituted”, especially the word “constituted”, would include a case in which the body, though established by a private party, required recognition for functioning as a stock exchange.Furthermore, the order issued by the SEBI under Section 4(3) of the SCRA, which was essential for NSEI to function, had to be regarded as an order issued by the Central Government in view of Section 29 of the SCRA, the single judge bench ruling said.“We see no reason to differ. It has to be remembered that this is not a case in which the body was established as a private company and was regulated by statute later, which is what Thalappalam (Supreme Cour ruling in Thalappalam Service Cooperative Bank Limited v. State of Kerala), referred to, it is a case where, without recognition by the SEBI, the NSEI could not function as a stock exchange at all. Therefore, the NSEI also satisfies the first part of the definition of ‘Public authority,” the division bench said and affirmed and upheld the judgement of the single judge bench. Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.Published on July 2, 2026
