Indian Express: New Delhi: Saturday, October 29, 2016.
The Central
Information Commission has sought files related to foreign trips of the Prime
Minister from the Ministry of External Affairs which had refused an RTI
applicant access to the documents citing security concerns.
Commodore
(Retd.) Lokesh Batra had sought these details to assess the expenditure
incurred on foreign trips of Narendra Modi. Chief Information Commissioner
Radha Krishna Mathur directed the minister to peruse the files to ascertain
whether there was any security concerns in the records.
“The
commission observed that without perusal of the file, it cannot be decided that
whether the sought for information contains security related information,” he
said, directing the ministry to produce one representative file before it.
Batra stated
before the commission that the case involves substantive public interest as the
bailout amount, reported to be in thousands of crores of rupees, being given to
Air India was the money of taxpayers. He also said there was a need for reforms
by understanding the causes of long delays in payments to Air India.
He said he was seeking information on details of
expenses incurred on foreign visits of Modi and former Prime Ministers;
instructions and the proces/steps involved in charting such flights and filing
‘flight returns’ and raising bills and clearing bills.
The ministry
told Batra that information he had sought was exempted from disclosure under
section 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act. The matter falls under the category where the
disclosure of information would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and
integrity of India and security interests of the state, it claimed.
.JPG)
.JPG)
