CIC: Communication between President & a political leader concerning formation of Government is information exchanged in confidence & politically sensitive in nature; If the public interest warrants preservation of confidentiality, it cannot be disclosed

O R D E R

RTI application:

1. The appellant filed RTI application dated 22.05.2014 seeking information pertaining to claims produced before the Hon’ble President by Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi to form Government and action taken thereon by the Hon’ble President, formal invitation of President for forming Government, etc.

2. The CPIO responded on 24.06.2014. The appellant filed first appeal dated 26.07.2014 before the first appellate authority (FAA). The FAA response is not on record. The appellant filed a second appeal on 20.11.2013 with the Commission.

Hearing:

3. The appellant and the respondent both participated in the hearing.

4. The appellant stated that he was seeking information on 5 points pertaining to claims produced before the Hon’ble President by Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi to form government and action taken thereon by the Hon’ble President, formal invitation of President for making Government. The appellant stated that the respondent has provided him a copy of a press release. The appellant stated that the provided information is irrelevant in respect of sought for information.

5. The appellant stated that as per his knowledge there are no provisions/Articles in the Constitution of the India regarding claim to form government. Thus, he wanted to know under which provisions the Hon’ble President had invited Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi to form Government and what claim had been produced by Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi to form the Government, what are the file notings in this regard.

6. The respondent stated that information in respect of point no. 1 to 3, of RTI application, the press release dated 20.05.2014 itself is adequate and has been provided to the appellant.

7. The respondent stated that information with regard to point no. 4 viz ‘file notings in this regard’ these are not available.

8. The respondent stated that the information with regard to point no. 5 viz ‘decision of the Public Information Officer’ has been provided to the appellant.

9. The appellant readout the press release and stated that there was a letter which has been handed over to the Hon’ble President that Shri Narendra Modi has been elected as leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party.

10 The respondent stated that under which provisions/Articles the President invited the Shri Narendra Modi to form the Government, is a matter of interpretation of statute and is beyond the scope of duties of Public Information Officer as envisaged under the RTI Act. The respondent stated that the correspondence exchanged between the Shri Narendra Modi and the President is exempted under section 8(1) (c) of the RTI Act being information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament.

11. The respondent stated that this Commission vide decision CIC/WB/A/2006/01003 dated 16.12.2006 held that the communication between the President of India and a leader of a political party and the correspondence between them concerning formation of a Government is information exchanged in confidence and politically sensitive in nature. An information which is sensitive in nature and if the public interest warrants preservation of confidentiality, it cannot be ordered to be disclosed. An information which is confidential and sensitive in nature and if submitted in confidence should, therefore, be deemed to be covered within the ambit of Section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and hence has to be held as exempted.

12. The appellant stated that sought for information is not covered in any exemption under the RTI Act.

Discussion/observations:

13. The ratio of aforesaid cited decision is applied to the instant case.

Decision:

14. No intervention of the Commission is required in the matter. The appeal is disposed of. Copy of the decision be given free of cost to the parties.

(Radha Krishna Mathur)

Chief Information Commissioner

Citation: Shri Parkash Shukla v. President Secretariat in Appeal No. CIC/CC/A/2014/002451