The central information commission (CIC) has held that multi-member deliberative bodies should be insulated from disclosing their details under the RTI Act. Upholding the decision of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to deny recordings of its council meeting to an applicant, Information Commissioner A N Tiwari in his order said a certain amount of insularity from disclosure needs to be accepted if multi-member deliberative bodies are to function effectively and carry out their statutory function objectively and fairly.

The CIC’s observation came on an RTI application filed by one R B Jain, who sought recordings of the ICAI’s council meetings on a disciplinary proceeding against him. He had asked for audio or video tapes of the disciplinary committee meetings at Mumbai and of the ICAI council meeting at Delhi.

While the institute pleaded that objective and unbiased functioning of its council was critically dependent on the confidentiality of its deliberative process, the applicant submitted that openness in such matters would enhance the credibility of the ICAI council.

Concurring with the ICAI’s views, the commission said, “Insularity immunises the members of such decision-making bodies from pressures and counter-pressures, which have the potentiality to impair their functioning as free-agents. ”