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Informist, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

 

--SC notice to central information body on BSE plea in public authority case 

--CONTEXT: SC stayed central information body order on public authority 

--CONTEXT:Information body said exchanges are public authority under RTI Act 

--BSE moves SC to make it party in "stock exchanges public authority" case 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Thursday issued a notice to the Central Information Commission on BSE Ltd.'s plea seeking a hearing in the case where the commission had ruled that National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. and BSE are a "public authority" under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The apex court tagged BSE's plea along with an appeal filed by NSE against the Central Information Commission's order. 

 

BSE said it and the NSE had both challenged the Central Information Commission's order in the Bombay High Court and the Delhi High Court, respectively. The Bombay High Court case has been pending for 19 years, whereas the Delhi High Court had recently ruled on NSE's plea that stock exchanges are public authority, BSE said. The bourse also said it was never given any notice in the hearing before the commission and if it is not heard in the top court, the stock exchange will not be heard anywhere. BSE said it was seeking a hearing of its case along with the NSE. 

 

BURDEN OF DISCLOSURES

On Jul. 31, the top court had stayed the Delhi High Court and the Central Information Commission's orders that said the stock exchanges were public authority under the 2005 Act. It had then issued a notice to the information commission.

 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for NSE, had said the exchange was not a public authority as it had 40% local investors and 27% foreign investors. The amount of trading that happens on the exchange's platform is very high and if the high court order continues and Right to Information applicants seek information on trading or transactions, the National Stock Exchange will stall, he said. 

 

The high court's order meant that the stock exchanges were legally obligated to disclose information sought by an applicant and appoint public information officers under the 2005 Act. In addition, the reasoning in the high court's order might have also extended to other stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories operating in India's securities market. 

 

On Jul. 1, the high court's division bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla had upheld its single judge bench's 2010 ruling that NSE qualified as a public authority under the categories of bodies owned, controlled, or substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the government. The division bench said the Supreme Court earlier had already concluded the stock exchanges belonged to the category of "State" under Article 12 of the Indian Constitution.

 

The high court noted that NSE was recognised as a stock exchange under an order issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. This resulted in NSE being constituted and established as an "authority" or "institution of self-government", the court noted. "The order issued by the SEBI under Section 4(3) of the SCRA (Securities (Contracts) Regulations Act, 1956), which was essential for NSE to function, had to be regarded as an order issued by the Central Government in view of Section 29 of the SCRA," said the high court.

 

At 1308 IST, shares of NSE were down 1% from Wednesday at INR 1,745.65 on the BSE. Shares of BSE were down 1.8% at INR 3,036.10 on the NSE.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Shubhayan Bhattacharya

 

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