Inquiry to be conducted against civil aviation minister on directions of CIC
20 Nov, 2012
Indian Airlines (IA) CMD Sunil Arora had complained to cabinet secretariat that he and the IA board were being pressured by then civil aviation minister Shri Praful Patel and his OSD to take financially damaging and commercially unviable decisions. The RTI activist Shri S C Agrawal had filed an application under the RTI Act with the Cabinet Secretariat seeking to know what action was taken on the allegations raised by Shri Arora against the then civil aviation minister and if there had been any other complaints against the minister. While disposing the second appeal filed by Mr. Agrawal, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the cabinet secretariat to inquire into allegations made by Indian Airlines CMD Sunil Arora against the then civil aviation minister for the alleged financial loss to the public exchequer. The commission also recommended the Cabinet Secretariat to give a hearing to the appellant and subsequently pass an appropriate order with a view to ensuring that the desired information is provided to the complainant. The commission also sought an explanation as to why the penalty should not be levied for the delay in providing the information.