People's Union For Civil Liberties & Anr. VS. U.O.I. & Ors.

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 18/07/2005

BENCH: CJI R.C. LAHOTI & ASHOK BHAN

JUDGMENT:

Right of information is a fundamental right under Article 19( 1)( a) of the Constitution. The State under Clause (2) of Article 19 of the Constitution, however, is entitled to impose reasonable restrictions inter alia in the interest of the State. How far and to what extent the same should be balanced is the question involved in these appeals which arise out of judgments and orders dated 30th January, 1997 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Writ Petition Nos. 1785 and 1792 of 1996. The appellants herein in the said writ petition sought disclosure of information from the respondents relating to purported safety violations and defects in various nuclear installations and power plants across the country including those situated at Trombay and Tarapur.

The said demand of information was made purported to be relying on or on the basis of an information that the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) prepared a report in November, 1995 documenting therein safety defects and weaknesses citing 130 instances which are said to be matters of concern. The appellants contended that a former Chairman of the AERB, Dr. Gopalkrishnan also expressed serious concern about the safety of nuclear installations in India disclosing that serious accidents had occurred in some of the nuclear facilities including one at Narora Atomic Power Plant in the St ate of U.P. and Kaiga Atomic Power Plant situated in the State of Kamataka. The Atomic Energy Act, 1962 ('the Act') was enacted to provide for the development, control and use of atomic energy for the welfare of the people of India and for other peaceful purposes and for matters connected therewith. Section 2(a) of then Act defines "atomic energy" to mean energy released from atomic nuclei as a result of any process, including the fission and fusion processes. The relevant provisions of the said Act are as under:

2(b). "Fissile material" means uranium 233, uranium 235, plutonium or any material containing these substances or any other material that may be declared as such by notification by the Central Government;

2(e). "plant" includes machinery, equipment or appliance, whether affixed to land or not; Section 3 provides for the general powers of the Central Government which include:

(a) to produce, develop, use and dispose of atomic energy either by itself or through any authority or corporation established by it or a Government company and carry out research into any matters connected therewith;

(c) to declare as "restricted information" any information not so far published or otherwise made public relating to­ 

(d) to declare as "prohibited area" any area or premises where work including research, design or development is carried on in respect of the production, treatment, use, application or disposal of atomic energy or of any prescribed substance; Section 16 provides for control over radioactive substances.

Section 17 provides for the rule making power of the Central Government by making special provisions as to safety. Section 18 of the Act reads as under: Restriction on disclosure of information. -­

(1) The Central Government may by order restrict the disclosure of information, whether contained in a document, drawing photograph, plan, model, or in any other form whatsoever, which relates to, represents or illustrates-- It is also not in dispute that the Central Government in exercise of its power conferred upon it under Section 27 of the Act, had set up the Board to enforce certain regulatory and safety measures envisaged under Sections 16,

17 and 23 of the Act.

The composition of the Board include: Right of information is a facet of 'speech and expression' as contained in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. Right of information, thus, indisputably is a fundamental right. Every right - legal or moral - carries with it a corresponding obligation. It is subject to several exemptions/ exceptions indicated in broad terms. Generally, the exemptions/ exceptions under those laws entitle the government to withhold information relating to the following matters:

(i) International relations;

(ii) National Security (including defence) and public Safety

The Board: A ERB is a statutory body. The following are its functions:

(viii) Each nuclear installation has an independent Health Physics set-up to constantly monitor the radiation dose to workers, and also an Environmental Survey Laboratory which continuously collects thousands of samples of food, water, air and sediment to monitor radioactivity releases to the environment.

(v) The Board has set up 2 Specialists' Committees: the Safety Review Committee for Operating Plants (SARCOP) and the Safety Review Committee for Applications of Radiation (SARCAR). These consist of scientists and technologists from different disciplines SARCOP deals with operating plants of the Department, and SARCAR deals with radiation installations for medical, industrial and research purposes. The specialists' committees meet regularly to review the safety status. (vii) AERB uses many inputs to assess the safety status of the plants/ installations. These include reports of inspection by AERB staff, radiation dose records and environmental monitoring reports. (xi) As part of the Public Information Programme, AERB issues a quarterly Newsletter, and an Annual Report.

Based on the continuous evaluation of the safety status of nuclear power plants, extracts of relevant records are published in the Annual Report of the AERB. Press releases on the regulatory activities of AERB are issued periodically. It is not in dispute that the President by a notification dated 15th November, 1983 issued under Section 27 of the Atomic Energy Act constituted the AERB. It being a statutory body has the powers to lay down the safety standards and frame rules and regulations under the Act as regard the regulatory and/or safety aspects of the installations generating electrical energy. Hereto before we have noticed the duties and functions of the Board which are of varying nature. It is also not in dispute that safety issues in DAE installations has been prepared by the Board based on the recommendations of various Safety Review Committees. They had all along been classified as "Secret". The report pertains to the nuclear installations in the country which, according to the respondents, include several sensitive facilities carrying out the activities of highly classified nature. The Board, make periodic assessment of the safety status of the installations and its suggestions as regard modifications and improvements to upgrade their safety status to the maximum extent are implemented. In their counter affidavit, the respondents herein inter alia contended that the said Board was constituted in terms of Section 27 of the Atomic Energy Act entrusting the task to develop Safety Codes, Guides and Standards for siting, design construction, commissioning, operating and decommissioning of the different types of plants, keeping in view the international recommendations and local requirements and develop safety policies in both radiation and industrial safety areas; Reviewing health and aspects of modifications in design! operation involving changes in the technical specification adopted in any of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) units; Reviewing operational experience in the light of the radiological and other safety criteria recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and such other international bodies and adapted to suit Indian conditions, and thereby evolve major safety policies; Prescribing acceptable limits of radiation exposure to occupational workers and members of the public and approve acceptable limits of environmental releases of radioactive substances; reviewing the emergency preparedness plans for non-DAE installations; Promote research and development efforts for fulfilling the functions and responsibilities specified; Reviewing the training programme, qualifications and licensing policies for personnel by the project! plants; Enforcing rules and regulations promulgated under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 for radiation safety in the country and such other functions as specified therein.

CASE NO. :Appeal (civil) 4294 of 1998 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 06/01/2004

BENCH:

CJI & S.B. Sinha