Hindustan
Times: Bhopal: Thursday, 02 July 2015.
The prime
minister’s office (PMO) has refused to divulge information under the right to
information (RTI) on action initiated by PM Narendra Modi on a memorandum,
submitted by a delegation of Congress leaders, demanding a CBI probe into the
Professional Examination Board (PEB) scam.
Replying to
the RTI application dated June 8, filed by activist Ajay Dubey, the PMO’s
central public information officer, BK Roy, said that giving out the
information was not possible as ‘compiling it would lead to disproportionate
diversion of resources of the PMO’. The reply, dated June 24, was received on
Wednesday.
A delegation
of Congress leaders, including AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh, former
union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal had met Modi
on March 18, submitting ‘solid evidence’ on the alleged direct involvement of
MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the scam. They had urged Modi ‘to
take the case in his hands’.
Dubey had
sought photocopies of the directives, note-sheets and letters written by Modi
after this (copies of the RTI application and PMO’s reply are available with
HT). But the PMO wanted Dubey to specify the documents/letters he wanted, as
compiling all the information would be otherwise difficult.
Speaking to
HT, Dubey said, “This is such a mega scam where many involved people have died.
But the PM’s office is taking it too lightly. How many letters could the PM
have written or how many directives could he have issued on the matter? Why
should its compilation divert resources?”