Jaitley's plea for information on Quattrochi rejected by CIC

New Delhi, Aug 4 (UNI) BJP MP and former Union Minister Arun Jaitley's plea under the Right to Information Act to get the details of the correspondence between the CBI and the Crown Prosecution of London regarding the defreezing of bank accounts of Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrochi has been rejected by the Central Information Commission.

The CIC endorsed the CBI stand that the case was still sub-judice.

It, however, castigated the CBI for taking more than sixteen years in the investigations in the case and asked it to expedite the probe to maintain its credibility.

''When the court is duly seized of the matter and prosecution has started the case, the exemption from disclosure of information under section 8(1)(h) of the Act has been correctly applied by the CBI Appellate Authority,'' the CIC said in its decision.

Though noting that it was heartening that people like Mr Jaitley were making use of the Right to Information Act, the CIC said that his request could not be granted also because ''the information sought is huge and that are available in a large number of files, which are housed in two large rooms and kept in several cupboards under the custody of the CBI.

Any attempt to compile the voluminous information may divert the public resources, which is not permissible u/s 7(9) of the Act, it said.

UNI NAZ MSJ PC1805