CIC can peruse oil-for-food scam papers, says SC

The Supreme Court has dismissed the Enforcement Directorate plea seeking exemption from production of documents related to investigations into the "oil-for-food" scam before the Central Information Commission.

The Supreme Court has dismissed the Enforcement Directorate plea seeking exemption from production of documents related to investigations into the "oil-for-food" scam before the Central Information Commission.

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The Commission had directed the ED to produce the file of the probe into the scam for its perusal to decide on its disclosure under the RTI Act.

The scam led to the ouster of former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh from the Cabinet in 2004 for his alleged role.

The bench comprising Justice AK Ganguly and Justice GS Singhvi trashed the arguments put forth by the government against the production of file before the CIC.

In his observations, Justice Ganguly said CIC has powers to peruse the file. He said there was so much of corruption and the RTI Act was a "breath of fresh air".

He said the Act has been applied to the judiciary and "we welcome it."