Consult Swamy before disclosing letter: CIC

The Central Information Commission has directed the president's Secretariat to take views of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy before making public his letter to the then president APJ Abdul Kalam in 2004 on the selection of prime minister when UPA-I came to power.

The Central Information Commission has directed the president's Secretariat to take views of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy before making public his letter to the then president APJ Abdul Kalam in 2004 on the selection of prime minister when UPA-I came to power.

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The CIC has asked the Secretariat to invoke provisions of Sec 11 of the RTI Act which says when a office intends to disclose any information which has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by it, a notice would be given before the disclosure.

As per the Act, information can only be disclosed after considering views given by the third party.

Activist Subhash Agrawal had sought a copy of the letter from the Secretariat, which had turned down his application saying the disclosure would be a breach of confidentiality and fiduciary relationship and therefore attracts Sec 8(1)(e) of RTI Act.

After hearing the matter, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra ordered to disclose, "the information... relating to the letter written by Subramanian Swamy to the then president on the formation of the Council of Ministers after following the procedure laid down in Section 11 of the Right to Information Act, if the CPIO considers such consultation necessary."

"No records are available in this regard," the Secretariat had said to a question on whether it was true that certain individuals, political parties or anyone else had objected against some particular person being invited to form the government in 2004.