CIC orders PMO to disclose information on corruption cases against cabinet ministers, bureaucrats

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hief Information Commissioner at Central Information Commission (CIC) Radha Krishna Mathur has directed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to provide the information pertaining to complaints submitted to Prime Minister of India against corruption charges of serving Central Ministers. This order has come on an appeal filed by RTI applicant and Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi who sought regarding information corruption charges against Cabinet Minsters/IAS officers etc. including details of various projects such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Smart City Project’, etc. from the PMO.

The PMO in his reply has informed the applicant that the sought information is not covered under the definition of ‘information’ as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act”. The Commission has now rejected this contention of the PMO and observed “the respondent (PMO) has wrongly stated in their reply against point nos. 4 and 5 of the RTI application that “request made by the appellant is not covered under the definition of ‘information’ as per Section 2(f) of the RTI Act”. The Commission observed that specific and clear information is sought by the appellant on point nos. 4 and 5.

The Commission has, therefore, now directed the PMO to provide specific information within 15 days to the applicant with regard to the complainants of corruption received to it against the union ministers.

Read the order here.

[pdfviewer]https://cdn.theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/22101731/16.10.2018-176627-Sanjiv_Chaturvedi.pdf[/pdfviewer]