Reveal Maran stake in sun: CIC tells govt

In a decision that can open up private sector for public scrutiny, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to provide details of shareholding of Kalanidhi Maran in Sun Direct, a direct to home (DTH) service. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jan 31, 2012, 23:35:21 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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In a decision that can open up private sector for public scrutiny, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to provide details of shareholding of Kalanidhi Maran in Sun Direct, a direct to home (DTH) service.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Kalanidhi Maran, his younger and former telecom minister brother Dayanidhi Maran regarding Aircel-Maxis deal with linkage to investment in Sun Direct.

The CIC overruled the objection of I&B ministry and Sun Direct Private Limited that the information sought was commercial in nature and exempted from disclosure under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

“Information regarding shareholding pattern is in the nature of commercial confidence-protected under section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act and disclosure of the same will harm the commercial interest of the third party,” Sun Direct’s counsel told the CIC.

Earlier, the I&B ministry’s public information officer KS Rejimon refused to provide the information saying the company has not given consent. Vinod K Jose, a resident of Jhandewalan, has sought information on shareholding pattern in Sun Direct and percentage shares held by Maran.

Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said the information sought cannot be treated as confidential as it is accessible to public through registrar of companies website by making a payment. "This Bench is of the view that disclosure of merely the shareholding pattern of Sun Direct TV cannot put it at a disadvantage from its competitors," he said.

The transparency watchdog also observed that the information related to mere matter of business and pertaining to, or engaged in commerce can be treated a commercial. The details of the shareholding pattern are not in the nature of commercial confidence.

The CIC also overruled the company’s objection that the information was personal in nature saying the information already provided to a public authority cannot fall in the domain of unwarranted invasion of privacy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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