Why was CMD Air India called back abruptly from his foreign tour?
25 Nov, 2012Background
The appellant filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Cabinet Secretariat in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). He had referred to some news item regarding the abrupt return of the CMD of the Air India from his foreign tour and raised a number of queries against which he sought various clarifications. The PMO transferred the RTI application to the Ministry of Civil Aviation which in turn transferred it to the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT). The Public Information Officer (PIO) DOPT transferred some of the queries to the Cabinet Secretariat. The PIO of the Cabinet Secretariat denied the information on the ground that the desired records constituted Cabinet Papers and therefore it could not be disclosed under section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the RTI Act.
Proceeding
The respondent of Cabinet Secretariat submitted that the decision to revert the then CMD of the Air India and appoint someone else in his place had been taken on the basis of a proposal received from the Minister Civil Aviation addressed to the Prime Minister of India and, therefore, it was considered that not only his letter but all related documents including file noting was in the nature of Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) papers. The appellant argued that as per the provisions of the section 8(1)(i) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed; of the RTI Act, this information should be disclosed since this was being sought much after the decision had been taken and the matter was complete and over.
View of CIC
The Central Information Commission (CIC) observed that the desired document should be disclosed even if it is admitted that these documents constitute part of the papers which had been put up before the ACC and the decision of the ACC has already been implemented. The CIC directed the PIO to provide to the appellant the photocopies of the relevant records which constituted the grounds for the government decision to revert the then CMD of the Air India and appoint someone else in his place.
Citation: Mr. Subhash Chandra Agarwal v. Cabinet Secretariat in File No. CIC/SM/A/2012/000503
RTI Citation : RTIFI/2012/CIC/823
Click here to view original RTI order of Court / Information Commission