Centre for Equity Studies v. UoI

Centre for Equity Studies v. UoI (Central Information Commission, 2017-04-12) CIC/SS/A/2017/000456 is a ruling on the Right to Information Act, 2005 — Sections 4, 17-MGNREGA. §4(1)(b) proactive disclosure mandatory for MGNREGA records. Under §4(1)(b) read with §17 of the MGNREGA Act, proactive disclosure of beneficiary lists and muster rolls is mandatory.

§4(1)(b) proactive disclosure mandatory for MGNREGA records.

Under §4(1)(b) read with §17 of the MGNREGA Act, proactive disclosure of beneficiary lists and muster rolls is mandatory. Refusal under §8(1)(d) commercial confidence in respect of public-money records is impermissible.

• Section 4
• Section 17-MGNREGA

Beneficiary lists + muster rolls must be displayed; refusal under §8(1)(d) rejected.

• Citation: CIC/SS/A/2017/000456
• Court: Central Information Commission
• Date: 2017-04-12
• Outcome: allowed
• Reporter / Cause-list: CIC/SS/A/2017/000456

This ruling is part of the 300+ case-law corpus at RTI Wiki Case-law Database. Every named case sets a precedent that you can cite in your own §19(1) First Appeal or §19(3) Second Appeal. Information Commissions and FAAs are bound to consider properly cited authority.

1. Day 30 — silence by PIO = deemed refusal under §7(2). File §19(1) First Appeal in 30 days using First Appeal Builder.
2. Day 60-90 — if FAA also refuses, file §19(3) Second Appeal to the State Information Commission (or CIC for central authorities).
3. Beyond 18 months pending — writ petition under Article 226 to the High Court.
4. Parallel CPGRAMS complaint at pgportal.gov.in for service-delivery push.

Use our Citation Formatter to format the citation correctly. Pair with Bhagat Singh v. CIC (2007) (procedural objections) and Adesh Kumar v. UoI (2014) (irrelevance is not a ground) — these two Delhi HC rulings cover most everyday refusal scenarios.

• CPIO Supreme Court v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (Constitution Bench) — office of CJI is public authority
• Anjali Bhardwaj v. UoI — IC vacancies + transparency
• Girish Deshpande — §8(1)(j) personal information test
• Bhagat Singh v. CIC — procedural compliance
• Adesh Kumar v. UoI — irrelevance is not a ground
• Full case-law database (300+)

• AI RTI Drafter
• First Appeal Builder
• Master directory of landmark RTI rulings
• RTI Act, 2005

• RTI Case-Law Search — full corpus
• PIO/FAA Knowledge Base
• 10 landmark Supreme Court RTI rulings
• High Court RTI rulings
• Landmark CIC decisions
• RTI Act, 2005 — full text

Last reviewed: 23 April 2026.