Abhinav Garg, TNN, May 31, 2010, 03.39am IST
NEW DELHI: An RTI application enquiring about the norms governing private appearances of senior law officers of the government has elicited an ambiguous response from the law ministry.
The half-baked reply from the department of legal affairs, which comes under the ministry, came in response to an RTI filed by well-known activist Subhash Chandra Aggarwal. Aggarwal, in his plea, based on a TOI news report, sought to know if additional solicitor general (ASG) A S Chandhiok had sought permission from the government to represent a man facing prosecution in a criminal case.
He also sought to know details of distribution of cases between counsels on the government panel, mode of deciding payment of fees, and file notings on the movement of his RTI plea. The ministry sat on Aggarwal’s plea, overshooting the prescribed time limit to reply. Then said in its delayed response that it had not received ‘‘any communication” with respect to the case fought by the ASG and enquired about in the RTI.
As for the remaining questions, the ministry’s public information officer asked Aggarwal to refer to the law ministry’s website to look for answers — even for file notings made on Aggarwal’s RTI — and told Aggarwal a portion of his queries were being diverted to the department’s litigation section which would furnish Aggarwal with the information.
TOI had earlier highlighted a case in which ASG Chandhiok had defended a man accused of cheating a Delhi court. The accused allegedly got another woman to impersonate his wife and forged court documents to obtain a divorce by mutual consent.
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