RTI plea on officers' appointment rebuffed

The files relating to framing of rules for empanelment of officers to the post of additional secretary and secretary at the Centre cannot be disclosed as these are Cabinet papers exempt from disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the government has maintained.

This stand of the government was reiterated in a letter to the Central Information Commission (CIC) by the Cabinet secretariat’s under secretary.

The government decided to approach the Delhi High Court challenging the CIC’s direction to make such disclosures.

In its February 29 order, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra had held that the government cannot deny information on framing of rules and its relaxation to an information seeker on the ground that these are Cabinet papers exempt from disclosure under the RTI Act.

Explanation

The CIC had explained the legal position while rejecting the stand taken by chief public information officer (CPIO) on a plea of noted RTI activist Subhash C Agrawal seeking information pertaining to appointment of former Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas.