JOIN USAttorney General G E Vahanvati has drawn flak for giving opinion to Minority Affairs Ministry (MAM) on official communication between PMO and the Cabinet, allegedly in violation of rules and without the mandatory reference by the Law Ministry.
Vahanvati had proferred his opinion to MAM that letters exchanged between the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues were done in mutual trust and confidence, and should not be revealed under the Right to Information Act.
An RTI applicant had sought details of the communications between the PM and MAM since UPA government was formed in May 2009.
Noted RTI activist S C Agrawal said that the top most law officer had committed an impropriety by providing advice without any reference from the Law Ministry.
Not fiduciary relationship
“The matter concerned constitutes high impropriety where a law officer of Government of India admittedly defied Rule 8(e) of the notification dated 01.01.1987 by Department of Legal Affairs. The Rule states that a Law Officer shall not advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organisation or any Public Sector Undertaking unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs,” he said.
Agrawal wanted to have details of the opinions given by Vahanvati but MAM refused it taking refuge under Section 8(l)(e) of the RTI Act, 2005 which stated that the information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, may not be revealed unless the competent authority was satisfied that the larger public interest warranted disclosure of such information.
“Fiduciary relationship is restricted to matters of most personal nature such as between a medical practitioner and his patient, but not all official matters. Even Central Information Commission has held in its various orders that 'fiduciary' relationship is not applicable to official matters,” Agrawal said.
He challenged the decision of MAM in an appeal before the Chief Public Information Officer.