Narayanan-Vajpayee letters row taken to the Information Commission

New Delhi, July 4 (UNI) The demand for disclosure of some correspondence between Rashtrapati Bhawan and the then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on the Gujarat riots has been taken to the Central Information Commission.

A citizen from Tamil Nadu has invoked the Right to Information Act (RTI) to force the PMO to make these letters public.

''The application was received from one Mr Suresh recently, and regarding the sensitivity of the matter it has been decided that a full bench of the Commission will hear the case,'' Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah told UNI.

The PMO had recently refused to disclose to the Nanavati Commission the sensitive documents.

The full bench will soon take up Mr Suresh's application for directing the PMO to disclose the classified correspondence between the two top constitutional functionaries, Mr Habibullah said.

In reply to a question, the CIC said that it was the first time that a matter will be heard by a full bench comprising all the five commissioners.

It is understood that the former President had made certain critical remarks about the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat and the BJP-led NDA ministry for alleged mishandling of the communal violence in the state that was sparked off by the Godhra train arson.

The Government had refused the Nanavati Commission's request, arguing tht the correspondence was a "highly confidential" and "sensitive" and hence, it was entitled to withold it under the Official Secrets Act.

UNI NAZ VD BD1544