The Prime Minister’s Office will take the nod of the Gujarat Government and Chief Minister Narendra Modi for releasing the correspondence exchanged with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the post-Godhra riots in 2002.
The information was earlier denied by the Central Public Information Officer of the PMO S E Rizwi citing Section 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act, without giving any reasons, which exempts information that would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
The decision was overturned during the appeal before his senior Krishan Kumar, Director PMO, where the applicant had objected to the response of the CPIO saying he had failed to give germane reasons for denial of information.
The applicant had also underlined that the correspondence was 11 years old and was not likely to have an impact on the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of offenders.
Upholding the reasons given by the applicant, the appellate authority directed the CPIO to provide additional details with regards to the case.
“As regards the contention that the grounds for exemption claimed under Section 8(1) (h) are not tenable, CPIO PMO is directed to obtain fresh inputs in this regard and provide the same to the applicant within 15 working days,” Krishan Kumar, Director and Appellate authority had decided.
In the latest response to the six-and-a-half month old RTI application, Rizvi said after the appeal decision the matter was referred to the office for fresh inputs.
“It is informed that third-party (Gujarat Government and Modi in the present case) consultation under Section 11(1) of the RTI Act is underway on a similar request and response regarding disclosure of information in this regard will be provided to you after due process as envisaged in Section 11 of the Act is completed,” he said.