New Delhi, July 2 -- A division bench of the Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld a single judge's ruling that the National Stock Exchange of India qualifies as a "public authority" under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) and is therefore bound to disclose information sought under the statute. A bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla held that it found no merit in NSE India's appeal against the single judge's April 15, 2010, judgment and affirmed the finding that the exchange is "controlled" by the appropriate government, thereby qualifying as a "public authority" under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act. "The learned Single Judge holds, in the impugned judgment, that the NSEI is controlled by the appropriate Government, and we agree. We entirely agree, and wholeheartedly endorse the finding, of the learned Single Judge, that the NSEI is an "authority" within the meaning of the first part of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. In that view of the matter, it is not necessary for us to examine whether the NSEI would also qualify as an "institution of self-government," the court said. On April 15, 2010, a single judge had upheld the Central Information Commission (CIC)'s 2007 decision that the NSEI is a public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act and comes under the ambit of the transparency law. The single judge had held that the NSEI was an "authority" or "institution of self-government" since it was recognised under the Securities Contract (Regulation) Act, 1956, by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and was also a body controlled by the Centre. The NSEI, represented by senior advocate Jayant Mehta and advocate Pranav Sarthi, argued in its appeal before the division bench that the exchange is neither owned, controlled, nor substantially financed, directly or indirectly, by the appropriate government; therefore, it does not fall within the definition of a "public authority" under the RTI Act. Mehta further submitted that while the NSEI is recognised and regulated by the SEBI, acting as a delegate of the Central Government under the provisions of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, such regulatory oversight does not amount to "control" within the meaning of the RTI Act. He contended that the single judge had erroneously conflated regulatory supervision and recognition with governmental control....