- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) We are, in these appeals, concerned with the question whether a co- operative society registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 (for short "the Societies Act") will fall within the definition of "public authority" under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (for short "the RTI Act") and be bound by the obligations to provide information sought for by a citizen under the RTI Act.
(3.) A Full Bench of the Kerala High Court, in its judgment MULLOOR RURAL CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LTD v. STATE OF KERALA AND ORS, 2012 AIR(Ker) 124 answered the question in the affirmative and upheld the Circular No.23 of 2006 dated 01.06.2006, issued by the Registrar of the Co- operative Societies, Kerala stating that all the co-operative institutions coming under the administrative control of the Registrar, are "public authorities" within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act and obliged to provide information as sought for. The question was answered by the Full Bench in view of the conflicting views expressed by a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court in Writ Appeal No.1688 of 2009, with an earlier judgment of the Division Bench reported in Thalapalam Service Co-operative Bank Ltd. v. Union of India, 2010 AIR(Ker) 6, wherein the Bench took the view that the question as to whether a co-operative society will fall under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act is a question of fact, which will depend upon the question whether it is substantially financed, directly or indirectly, by the funds provided by the State Government which, the Court held, has to be decided depending upon the facts situation of each case.;