Centre moves HC against CIC order on IAS officer

The Hindu: New Delhi: Monday, May 28, 2018.

1991-batch officer Ashok Khemka has been exempted from the ambit of the Right to Information Act

The Central government has moved the Delhi High Court against a Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking it to inform whether IAS officer Ashok Khemka was considered for the post of joint secretary to the government of India.

Mr. Khemka is known for cancelling Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s alleged illegal land deal in Gurugram.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in its plea has also challenged a single judge’s order upholding the January 2017 decision of the CIC.

Over deputation

The CIC in its order had directed DoPT to disclose whether the name of Mr. Khemka, an IAS officer of 1991 batch of the Haryana State cadre, was placed before the Civil Services Board (CSB) for deputation as joint secretary to government of India under the Central Staffing Scheme of 2014.

The matter is expected to be heard by a Bench of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and A.K. Chawla in July.

The appeal by the DoPT has claimed that the information sought by Mr. Khemka, also known for the numerous times he has been transferred, was exempted from the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Sensitive information

The Centre had taken a stand that the deliberations and recommendations of the CSB constitute highly sensitive information as they form the basic material on which senior officers are placed on deputation on posts with the Central government.

It also claimed that the information sought is held in fiduciary capacity by the DoPT and therefore, cannot be provided under the RTI Act.

However, this line of argument had not been accepted by the single judge, Justice Vibhu Bakhru, who last year had said that if the DoPT’s stand was accepted then any information held by any public authority would be exempted.

“The information regarding CSB meetings are that of the public authority and not of the persons involved in such deliberations,” Justice Bakhru had remarked.