RTI Cell of Air Force does not have any email ID - CIC: Provide the certified copies of all “Special Flight Returns” with respect to the foreign visits undertaken by the PMs Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi after severing the names of security personnel

Information sought:

The Appellant sought certified copies of all “Special Flight Returns” with respect to the foreign visits undertaken by Hon’ble then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and present Prime Minister Narendra Modi from April, 2013 till the date of RTI Application.

Grounds for the Second Appeal:

The CPIO has denied part 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; 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; and (e) of RTI Act.

Relevant Facts emerging during Hearing:

The following were present:-

Appellant: Present on phone.

Respondent: Wg Cdr S.K. Ojha, CPIO, Wg Cdr C.G. Varghese, Arun Kumar, Dy.Dir.(Adm)& APIO and Cpl Robil Pathania, IHQ of MoD(Air), New Delhi present in person.

Appellant stated that he has received extract of Part-I of SFR in connection with PM’s visit by Air Force aircrafts for the period sought but is not satisfied with the denial of copy of Part-II of SFR in the same context. He brought the attention of the bench to a decision in File No. CIC/IAIRF/C/2017/149613/SD dated 22.05.2018, wherein Commission has castigated the Air Force in similar facts of the case for not providing expenditure details of PM’s visit. He further placed reliance on Commission’s decision in File No. CIC/PMOIN/A/2017/605624 wherein PMO was directed to provide details of private persons(who do not have any connection with the security) and who accompanied the Hon’ble Prime Minister on his international visits at public cost for the period starting from the year 2014 till 2017. In light of such earlier decisions, Appellant requested a copy of Part-I & Part-II of SFR maintained by Air Force as per Air Force Order No.24/2017 and clarified that he is not interested in knowing the names of the security personnel of PM’s entourage. He furthermore stated that he has not received any order of FAA in the case.

CPIO interjected to submit that FAA’s order was sent to the Appellant through Embassy of India, USA by diplomatic bag since he was located in USA. He produced FAA’s order and its dispatch details for the perusal of the Commission.

Appellant requested that FAA’s order may now be directed to be sent by the CPIO on his registered email ID or alternatively the Commission can scan the same and email him.

CPIO submitted that RTI Cell of Air Force does not have any email ID and they do not have the facility to correspond on RTI matters through e-mails. He further submitted that online RTI Applications/First Appeals filed on RTI online portal are received in hard copy form through MoD.

As regards the information sought, CPIO submitted that the Appellant has been informed about details of foreign visits undertaken by the PM from 07.06.2016 till the date of RTI Application which included date of journey(s), sector and type of aircraft used. That, however, Part-I of SFR contains other operational details including aircraft no., flight timings, details of crew members and other technical details, disclosure of which will attract exemption 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; 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. He furthermore submitted that he will abide by the orders of the Commission, if any in the matter.

Decision

At the outset, Commission based on the perusal of facts on record summarily rejects the denial of part information under 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; of RTI Act as CPIO has not provided any reasons for invoking the said clause, rather its applicability appears extraneous. As far as the exemption of 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; 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 RTI Act is concerned, this bench is inclined to accept the contention of the Appellant based on the earlier decisions of the Commission on the same subject matter wherein disclosure of information has been allowed with the exemption of the details of Security Personnel.

In view of the foregoing, Commission directs the CPIO to provide the certified copies of available and relevant SFR-II as sought in the RTI Application after severing the names & other relevant identifying particulars of the security/SPG personnel figuring therein. The severance of record is to be followed in consonance to the provisions of Section 10 of RTI Act. The said information shall be provided free of cost to the Appellant within 15 days from the date of receipt of this order and a compliance report to this effect be duly sent to the Commission by the CPIO. The appeal is disposed of accordingly.

Divya Prakash Sinha

Information Commissioner

Citation: Commodore Lokesh K Batra (Retd.) v. Directorate of Personal Services, Air Headquarters in File No : CIC/IAIRF/A/2018/632874, Date of Decision : 08/07/2020