Land records are neither private information nor ‘third party’ information

Central Information Commission (CIC): “The land records containing the names of different owners and describing boundaries and extent of the land are public records and the information such as names of persons and the extent of land owned or possessed by the public authority is neither private information nor ‘third party’ information,” held CIC while directing the Delhi Government to consider displaying the land records on the prominent walls of villages for the convenience of the people as done in Telangana and several villages in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. This order of CIC came upon an appeal filed by a person who sought information regarding number of plot holders, land covered by the plots and the extent of the land left for agriculture in Kamabavala Village. Said information was denied by the Delhi government officials on the ground that property details of other persons available in land records of the village constitute the ‘third party’ information of various owners and thus could not be given under RTI to the appellant. The Commission rejected the said contention and observed that the land is open and transaction of change of ownership of a particular piece of land is registered with Registrar for being recorded as admissible evidence of that ownership for public to know. Registration is notification to society and evidence of the transaction and not an affair to be kept secret. CIC further observed that being a public record held by the Revenue Department, it is the duty of the public authority to provide access to the public, as transparency is the only way by which corruption can be prevented. “Transparency of the land records is the mandate as per the Right to Information Act, 2005 and Public Records Act, 1993”, noted CIC while directing Delhi government to provide relevant information to the appellant and also to explore writing the record of rights on the prominent walls in villages. (Surender Pal Singh v. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, GNCTD, Delhi, 2014 SCC OnLine CIC 10337, decided on December 29, 2014)