Mumbai, July 1 -- In a ruling that brings India's largest stock exchange under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday held that the National Stock Exchange (NSE) is a "public authority" under the law.

Ending a 16-year long legal battle, a division bench headed by Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla upheld the 2010 ruling by a single bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The bench in its judgement stated: "The justification provided by the learned Single Judge ... is eloquent and reasoned, and we see no cause to disturb the findings."

The court held that NSE satisfies the definition of a public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. The order states that "not only the Central ...