Moneylife:
Pune: Tuesday, October 16, 2012.
CIC
asked the PMO to first find out if the information itself exists and only then
to decide if the information could be disclosed or not, instead of routinely
seeking exemption under one or the other provisions of the RTI Act
The Central
Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to
first ensure existence of information within the department before seeking
exemption under the Right to Information (RTI) Act for not disclosing them, reports
PTI.
The CIC's
observation came recently while it was hearing a plea by Delhi-based RTI
activist Vivek Garg, who sought to know the details of correspondence made by
the PMO with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence (DRI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Research and Analysis Wing
(RAW) in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation.
The PMO has
declined to give information citing exemption clause of the transparency law.
"In the
scheme of things, it is very unlikely that the Prime Minister of India or the
PMO would enter into correspondence with individual investigating or
intelligence agencies on any such matters.
"Instead
of routinely seeking exemption under one or the other provisions of the RTI
Act, it would always be better to first find out if the information itself
exists and only then to decide if the information could be disclosed or
not," the CIC said in its order.
In the
present case, the CIC said, there was a feeling that the concerned office in
the PMO had not verified the records to find out if indeed such correspondence
had ever been made.
"Needless
to say, if any report or letter written by any of these organisations to their
respective nodal departments had been forwarded to the PMO by the respective
department in connection with any query from the PMO, that information is not
what the Appellant has sought.
"All
that he has wanted is to get the copies of the correspondence and other related
documents directly arising between the PMO and those organisations," Chief
Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said.
The CIC asked
the PMO to address each queries raised by the appellants separately and confirm
if the desired information exists and whether it can be disclosed.
"If the
information or some of it can be disclosed, the Central Public Information
Officer shall send the same to the Appellant," Mishra said in his order.
Garg had
sought copies of correspondences made with the investigating agency by Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or the PMO over the allocation of second
generation spectrum to certain telecom companies.
The 2G
spectrum allocation is being investigated by the CBI for alleged
irregularities. Trial in the 2G case is also continuing in a court in the
national capital.
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