RTI: PMO refuses to divulge information

, Apr 1: In a shocking case, a citizen has been denied infromation under the Right to Information Act (

). The violation is by none other than the Prime Minister's Office who has questioned the need for the information sought. This response comes even as there is no reason needed to be specified to get information under the RTI act.

The information has not been provided on the basis that it has failed to reason as it why the "information is useful" to him, "either personally, socially or nationally".

The reply has been given from the Central Public Information Officer to activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra. Among other pieces of information, Batra had sought to know from the PMO the details of files and records which have been digitised and computerised by it as mandated in the Section 4(1)(a) of the Right to Information Act. Rather than complying with directives of senior officer, CPIO SE Rizvi refused to disclose information.

According to the Act, information can be denied only if it comes under 'exemption clauses of the transparency law'. Former Chief Information Commissioner A N Tiwari, while replying to a query on the issue, said the CPIO cannot ask how information was useful to RTI applicant and if the applicant approaches Central Information Commission, the Commission can initiate penalty proceedings against him.

OneIndia News (With inputs from PTI)