Stock exchanges come under RTI Act

New Delhi: In a move that could bring in greater transparency in functioning of the bourses, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has brought the country's stock exchanges under the purview of Right to Information Act.

Disposing two different applications filed against two stock exchanges, the CIC directed all the bourses in the country to comply to the RTI rules within three months.

It also directed the Jaipur Stock Exchange (JSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE), against which the applications were filed, to put in place a RTI regime within one month.

"The Commission holds that a stock exchange being a quasi-governmental body working under the statute and exercising

statutory powers has to be held a 'public authority' within the meaning of the RTI Act," the bench said.

The Commission was hearing appeals of Raj Kumari Agrawal and K Lall (both investors) who had moved against the JSE and the NSE for turning down their information request on grounds that the bourses were beyond the purview of the RTI Act.

The bench headed by Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah also considered the application of Yogesh Mehta (ex-member broker) who had asked the applicability of the RTI Act on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Terming the government's control over the functioning of the stock exchanges as "pervasive", the commission in its 24-page order said that bourses can not be exempted from sharing information under the provisions of the Act.

"A stock exchange starts its function only after recognition and even while so functioning remains under the implicit control of the Government through SEBI, which has to be categorized as pervasive," the bench said.

The commission in its decision referred to the contentions of SEBI which had submitted that the government and SEBI had concurrent control over functioning of the stock exchanges.

The CIC had earlier sought the comments of the market regulator and the Ministry of Finance on the subject.

While the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) maintained that stock exchanges were not "public authorities", the SEBI contended otherwise.