Now, Maha Metro is brought under the ambit of State Information Commission (SIC). Recently, Nagpur Bench of SIC gave a ruling while hearing second appeal of an applicant, he had sought information as to medical expenses of MD and Directors of Maha Metro. So far, Maha Metro enjoyed the luxury of remaining confined to jurisdiction of Central Information Commission (CIC), as they claimed to entity of Central Government. But Rahul Pande, State Information Commissioner, Nagpur Bench, gave a reasoned ruling pointing out the fallacy of the argument of Maha Metro as a joint venture and 80 per cent equity is with Maharashtra Government. Hence, the claim of Maha Metro being a Central Government entity and not being covered by SIC was dismissed while upholding the contention of the petitioner, Pramod Joshi. The judgement was delivered on November 20, 2023.

 

The ruling as to Maha Metro is quite significant, in a way as it provides relief to citizens, especially in case they are denied information under RTI, they have to just file an appeal with the local bench of SIC. Apart from faster hearing, the procedure is quite simple and a person can personally attend the same. Whereas under CIC, the applicant had to appear through video conferencing and the process was also lengthy. Hence many applicants did not prefer second appeal. SIC’s Nagpur Bench listed Joshi’s applicant on October 10, 2023, and Maha Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) objected to the locus stand of SIC in taking-up second appeal. The Metro argument was that they come under the preview of Central Government and hence the applicant should file second appeal with CIC. Therefore, SIC should not take-up the appeal and instead refer it to CIC and to buttress their argument they cited the word Rail, which Metro official claim is Central Government subject.

 

SIC Pande, in his judgement, made some plain reading of facts and also brought it to notice of learned officials of Maha Metro, citing the details mentioned on the organisation’s website. MMRCL is a joint venture between Central and State Government having 50 per cent share each. But further close reading reveals that local bodies, like Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Nagpur Improvement Trust (NMC) together has provided 5 per cent share capital. Thus, total State share in the Metro organisation comes to 70 per cent and most of the expenditure is of State Government. Maha Metro is carrying out operations within the State of Maharashtra at Pune, Nagpur, and in Navi Mumbai and further plans to expand it to Nashik.

 

The SIC further ruled that SIC was established as a public undertaking and hence it is wrong to claim that former cannot hear the appeals under RTI. Vikas Namulkar, First Appellate Authority, under RTI, was present during the hearing held on October 31, 2023. The hearing by Pande is a set back for Maha Metro as till now, it has stone-walled RIT applications and also dismissed first appeal as they were confident that second hearing is going to be referred to CIC. Now with SIC exercising its jurisdiction, the Metro officials would now have to be transparent in their functioning and share all details with citizens as to expenditure incurred by the organisation.