Authority: Appellate Authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005, Securities and Exchange Board of India

Order Date: October 01, 2026

Case Overview

The appellant, Sundaresan Viswanathan, filed an RTI application dated July 27, 2026, received by SEBI through the RTI MIS portal. The application sought multiple pieces of information, including: SEBI's action taken reports (ATR) on listed companies, their insolvencies, losses in insolvencies, and liquidations; ATR on specific references DEACMM20250000114 and DEACMM20260000168; information evaluating SEBI's performance; minutes of various SEBI committees (including Qualified Audit Report Review Committee, SEBI Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards, Advisory Committee for SEBI Investor Protection and Education Fund, Advisory Committee on Listing Obligations and Disclosures, and Committee on Corporate Governance); and a year-wise list of entities that tapped the capital market from 2003 onwards, particularly those with insolvencies, along with their audited fund utilization reports.

The respondent, CPIO, SEBI, Mumbai, responded on August 21, 2026, stating that the queries were vague and could not be construed as "information" as defined under Section 2(f) of the RTI Act. The appellant filed a first appeal dated September 02, 2026 (Reg. No. SEBIH/A/E/26/00332) on the ground that he was refused access to the requested information.

The Appellate Authority, after perusing the application, response, and appeal, concurred with the CPIO's assessment. The authority found the queries to be broad, vague, and not specific. It referenced a decision by the Hon'ble Central Information Commission in the matter of Mr. T. V. Sundaresan vs. CPIO, Securities and Exchange Board of India (dated November 24, 2021), which held that the RTI framework requires information sought to be specific and existing in documented form with the public authority. Answering broad, multiple, general, and presumptive queries about documents that should have been generated as per the appellant's expectation does not fall under the provisions of the Act.

Final Outcome

The appeal was dismissed. The Appellate Authority found no deficiency in the CPIO's response and no need to interfere with the decision. The request for information was not granted.

Topics: RTI Act, SEBI Transparency, Regulatory Information Access