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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Law Ministry to challenge CIC order on RTI plea

Law Ministry to challenge CIC order on RTI plea

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published Published on Feb 3, 2012   modified Modified on Feb 3, 2012

-The Hindu

The Union Law and Justice Ministry has decided to challenge the Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing it to disclose the 2007 advice tendered to A. Raja by the then Solicitor- General, Goolam E. Vahanvati.

The first mention of the advice was by Mr. Raja himself — in a letter the former Telecom Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on December 26, 2007. In the letter, which was in response to communications from Manmohan Singh urging Mr. Raja to ensure “fairness and transparency” in the allocation of spectrum, the former Minister defended himself citing discussions with the External Affairs Minister and Mr. Vahanvati.

‘No minutes kept'

Mr. Raja said: “The discussions with the External Affairs Minister and the Solicitor-General of India have further enlightened me to take a pre-emptive and pro-active decision… to avoid any further confusion and delay.”

Responding to a Right to Information application filed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal, Mr. Vahanvati's office admitted to the “15-minute-long” meeting with Mr. Raja but said no minutes had been kept, and a “brief note was prepared and handed over to the Minister.”

When the case came up in appeal before the CIC, the Law Ministry refused to disclose the details of the opinion on the ground that it was confidential and fiduciary in nature and came within the exemption clauses of Section 8 of the RTI Act. Central Information Commissioner Sushma Singh, citing the precedent set in a similar case, ruled that Section 8 could not be invoked to deny disclosure of Mr. Vahanvati's advice. She directed the Law Ministry to provide a copy of the note to Mr. Agrawal.

The Hindu, 3 February, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2855401.ece


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