Disclosure of information

Disclosure of information in regard to the functioning of Government must be the ordinary rule while secrecy must be an exception, justifiable only when it was demanded by the requirement of public interest

Right to information could not be restrained merely on the basis of speculative possibility of harm or prejudice to public order; but the information must be of such nature as would create real and substantial risk of prejudice and harm to public order

Where the State was protecting information relating to a matter of public importance, the Court had to perform a balancing exercise between two competing dimensions of public interest, namely the right of the citizen to obtain disclosure of information which competed with the right of the State to protect the information on the basis of exceptions

After weighing one competing aspect of public interest against the other, the court had to decide where the balance laid

Where the Court came to the conclusion on the balance and under the principle of proportionality that disclosure of information would cause greater injury to the public interest, than its non-disclosure, the Court would hold the objection to the disclosure and not allow the document to be disclosed, but if on the other hand, the Court found that balance between two competing interests laid the other way, the Court would order for disclosure of document

Same balancing test would apply where the right to disseminate information conflicted with private interest of an individual and Court would have to determine whether public interest would prevail over private interest.