Daily Pioneer: New Delhi: Monday,
December 05, 2016.
The Central
Information Commission (CIC) has ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs to
release the details of security clearances related to Jet Airways.
The order
pronounced recently by Information Commissioner Sudhir Bharghava said the MHA
can’t withhold the RTI queries related to the security clearances given to the
appointment of Capt. Hameed Ali, a Bahrain national, as Chief Operating Officer
of Jet Airways.
The CIC order
came on the petition filed by noted activist Vineet Narain’s Kalchakra Magazine
Editor Rajneesh Kapur who said that Capt. Hameed Ali had been working as COO of
Jet Airways for more than 7 years violating all norms of Civil Aviation and
Home Ministry’s mandated security clearance.
The MHA did
not provide any information on any RTI query in this regard on the “pretext” of
confidentiality, said Kapoor in his appeal to the CIC. Narain has also filed
several complaints against the series of violation by Jet Airways in many
forums like CVC, CBI and DGCA.
In his order,
the Information Commissioner criticized the
MHA for taking stands on the pretext of confidentiality. “ The
Commission is of the opinion that the information sought, if disclosed, would
serve larger public interest since it relates to the issue of security
clearance of a person who is working as a senior functionary in Aviation Sector
and not following proper procedures while granting security clearance to such
persons could pose a grave threat to the security and safety of the passengers,
who travel by air.
“In view of
this, the Commission, directs the respondent to inform the appellant whether
any security clearance was given to one Hameed Ali or not, within a period of
four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this decision,” said the CIC
order.
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