Days after the government temporarily shelved its plan to introduce amendments to the RTI Act to bar access to file notings, it lobbed another bombshell.
The government told the Central Information Commission (CIC) that it did not have the powers to hear appeals and pass orders unless all the five commission members handled the case.
The government is learnt to have forwarded the attorney general’s opinion to make out its case. If this view holds good, judicial scrutiny, proceedings in all the commissions — at the Centre and the state — run the risk of being questioned on this ground besides considerably slowing down work.
The only case at the CIC to have been heard by the full bench relates to the controversial Vajpayee-Narayanan letters; the Delhi High Court stayed its directive in this case on Tuesday.
Sources said the CIC had informally discussed the legal opinion but could take a firm view on how to proceed. One view suggests that the CIC take the government head-on; another favours a conciliatory approach.
This opinion was forwarded by the department of personnel and training to the CIC on Tuesday.