CIC: Disclosure of Power of Attorney is Now Mandatory

 In a bid to arrest property frauds, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has made it mandatory for the public authorities to disclose the copies of general power of attorney (GPA) in larger public interest.

GPA is a public document because the grantee has to use it to convince any prospective purchaser. There is no public interest in withholding it, the CIC observed.

Information Commissioner Madabhushi Sridhar passed these orders on September 2 this year while disposing of an appeal by RTI applicant Manish Bansal. Accordingly, the Registration Act 1908 can no more empower the registration department to hide certain documents from public.

As for facts of the case, Manish through his RTI application dated April 25, 2013, sought copies of documents regarding the GPAs relating to a property at Laxmi Nagar, executed by Krishan Lal in favour of Urmila Gupta etc. 

The PIO concerned has given reply by his letter dated May 6 last year. The appellant made first appeal before the FAA, who, by his order dated July 17 upheld the information furnished by the PIO and disposed of the appeal, saying that the appellant cannot be issued the documents as the department of Delhi Archives is only custodian of records.

Delhi Archives denied the copy of GPA to applicant Manish saying that the records transferred to it by registration department were held for that department and thus the restrictions of Registration Act would apply.

Claiming that complete information was not received from the respondent authority, the appellant filed second appeal before the Commission. 

After hearing the case, the CIC found no reason to accept the stand taken by the respondent authority that they were only custodians and thus they could not give copies of the documents. Once they hold the information, the RTI Act mandates that they should share it with RTI applicants unless the RTI Act exempts them from disclosure. The contention of the respondents, department of Delhi Archives in this case, and that of department of Sub-Registrar or Registrar generally before this Commission was that the Registration Act does not require them to share a copy of GPA or the Will under Section 57.

Rejecting the contention of the Delhi Archives, the Commissioner said: “The GPA is a public document because the grantee has to use it to convince any prospective purchaser. The purpose of GPA is to authorize another person to deal with the others i.e. to lease out, sale or mortgage etc., it is an open document and after being registered it is put in public domain, and when transferred to Delhi Archives, it continued to be in public domain, disclosure of which was permitted by the Registration Act also in a limited way”.

“It will be in the interest of that prospective purchaser to verify the veracity of the documents, including GPA, before finalizing the deal. Registered GPA is an authenticated documentation of giving power of attorney to deal with immovable property, which can be accessed by persons interested in purchasing that property to rule out encumbrances if any. It is the duty of Registrar office to give certified copy of such encumbrance or issue ‘no encumbrance certificate’. The RTI Act made it obligatory to disclose any document which is held by public authority unless exemptions in Section 8 are attracted”, Prof Sridhar explained.

While setting aside the order of first appellate authority, the CIC referred to the judgments of Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and a circular issued by the Tamil Nadu government about issuance of certified copy of power of attorney.

The CIC disposed of the appeal directing the PIO to supply required information to the appellant within one month from the date of receipt of this order.
Read full judgment ;click here

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