RTI Appeal Dismissed by CIC for Seeking Flight Schedule Data Already in Public Domain
On 6 January 2020, the Central Information Commission (CIC) delivered its decision in case File No: CIC/AAOIN/A/2018/142150, concerning an RTI application filed by Anupkumar Ramanarayan Sony. The appellant had sought details of flight numbers, operating airlines, and actual departure times for flights from Mumbai to Indore on 13 April 2018, including a full list of flights within 24 hours. The RTI was originally submitted on 23 April 2018, but no reply was received from the CPIOs of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. Consequently, the appellant filed a first appeal on 20 May 2018, which also went unanswered. A second appeal was then submitted on 28 June 2018. During the hearing conducted via video conferencing, the appellant expressed dissatisfaction with the handling of his application. Representatives from both AAI and Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd. were present. The private airport operator stated that a written submission had already been sent to the CIC with a copy marked to the appellant. Upon reviewing the records, Information Commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha observed that the information requested—flight schedules—is readily available in the public domain. He criticized the misuse of the RTI mechanism for acquiring such publicly accessible data, noting it unnecessarily burdened the resources of the AAI and the Commission. As a result, the Commission dismissed the appeal, citing that such use of RTI wasted public resources and conflicted with the ongoing digitalization efforts of the country. Citation: Central Information Commission, Decision dated 06/01/2020, File No: CIC/AAOIN/A/2018/142150.
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