India Today: New Delhi: Wednesday,
October 12, 2016.
The Central
Vigilance Commission has declined to share details on cases of alleged
corruption in execution of the multi-crore Commonwealth Games related projects
in New Delhi, saying it will "disproportionately divert" its
resources.
The
Commonwealth Games which were held during October 3-14, 2010 were marred by
allegations of corruption. Various probe agencies like CBI and ED are looking
into the cases of alleged graft in the mega sporting event.
Replying to
an RTI query, the CVC said the concerned Central Public Information Officer
(CPIO) SC Sinha had stated that the information sought was not readily
available but could be found in a number of files, and culling or compiling of
information from these files would divert the limited resources of this public
authority.
"Hence,
the information cannot be made available under Section 7 (9) of the RTI Act,
2005," the CVC said in its reply to the RTI application filed by PTI.
As per the
Section, an information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is
sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public
authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record
in question.
The CVC was
asked to provide details on cases of corruption in CWG-related projects being
probed by it.
"The
other CPIOs concerned have stated that the information sought by you pertains
to a third party, which is exempted from disclosure under Section 8 (1) (j) of
the RTI Act, 2005," the probity watchdog said.
The Section
bars making public information related to personal information, the disclosure
of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would
cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of the individual unless the Central
Public Information Officer is satisfied that the larger public interest
justifies its disclosure.
"Provided
that the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State
Legislature shall not be denied to any person", the Section reads further.
The CVC,
which went into alleged irregularities in CWG-related civic and construction
projects, has also reportedly found tax evasion of Rs 1,014.60 crore by
government departments and private companies.
At least
9,000 publicly-funded projects worth several crores were executed by 37
government departments and private companies for the Commonwealth Games.
Following
allegations of corruption in CWG-related works, former Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh had formed a high-level probe committee, headed by former Comptroller and
Auditor General VK Shunglu, to look into it.
The Committee
had submitted six reports mentioning various instances of large-scale
corruption and other lapses.
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