Thursday, July 02, 2015

PMO refuses information under RTI on PEB scam action

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?”