Disclosure of the letter received by PM from the Russian President under RTI
11 Aug, 2012Background
The appellant sought copy of the letter received by Prime Minister from the Russian President/Prime Minister/their representatives between September 2007 and February 2008. He also wanted the copy of the letter put up to Prime Minister from the Russian President/ Prime Minister/ Officials on Telecom license issued between September 2007 and February 2008. The Public Information Officer (PIO) denied the information under section 8(1)(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; of the Right to Information (RTI) Act stating that the disclosure of correspondence between PM and other Heads of States would prejudicially affect relations with foreign States.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the correspondence exchanged between the Heads of two Governments relates to multiple issues and does not touch the issue under reference and disclosure of this class of information may be prejudicial to India’s relations with Russia. The Commission rejected the appeal stating that correspondence exchanged between the Heads of two Governments is barred from disclosure under section 8(1)(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence; of the RTI Act.
Comments
The PIO could have invoked the Section 8(1)(f) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information received in confidence from foreign Government; of the RTI Act in the case.
Citation: Mr. Deepak Saluja v. Prime Minister’s Office, in File No.CIC/SM/A/2011/002731/LS
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/553
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission