Revealed: Why PMO says NO to unveil Robert Vadra's secrets

New Delhi, June 13: Prime Minister Office (PMO) has been criticised for its decision of not disclosing information regarding Robert Vadra's land deal. The PMO, however, clarified the reason(s) behind their stand of not unveiling the information regarding the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Nutan Thakur, a Lucknow-based RTI activist, had sought information regarding a probe in Vadra's deals. Thakur sent the letter to the PMO citing allegations against Vadra raised by Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal and lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

Thakur also had moved the Allahabad High Court seeking intervention of the court in the case. The PMO had claimed that there was no merit in Thakur's case as it was based on media reports and hearsay. The court later dismissed the case.

Snubbing Thakur's letter, the PMO referred to a Supreme Court ruling which states that "the exemption under section 8(1) (e), of the RTI Act, is available not only in regard to information that is held by a public authority in a fiduciary capacity, but also to any information that is given or made available by a public authority to anyone else for being held in a fiduciary capacity."

The apex court order also added, "...In other words, anything given and taken in confidence expecting confidentiality to be maintained will be information available to a person in fiduciary relationship."

The PMO recently said that information about Vadra's land deal is confidential. Hence, it rejected to divulge information relating to the land deals involving Vadra and realty giant DLF.

OneIndia News