Delhi High Court moved against CIC order directing disclosure of information on foreign visits by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi, Manmohan Singh

The Delhi High Court has been moved to challenge a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing the disclosure of information pertaining to the foreign visits undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former PM Manmohan Singh..In its order dated July 8 this year, the CIC had directed the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Directorate of Personal Services, Air Headquarters, Indian Air Force, to make available copies of the Special Flight Returns pertaining to these foreign visits..The petition filed in the High Court states that the information sought is extremely sensitive in nature since it contains official records of functioning and working of the security apparatus of the Prime Minister. The same cannot be brought into the public domain for safety and security reasons, the CPIO states in the plea..“The information so sought includes details related to the entire entourage, names of Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel accompanying the Hon'bie Prime Minister of India on foreign tours for his personal safety, and the same, if disclosed, can potentially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State.”.It is stated that the information sought is exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(a), 8(1)(e) &8(1)(g) of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act), 2005. Further, details of the SPG are explicitly exempted from the purview of the RTI Act by the virtue of section 24(1) read with the Second Schedule of the Act, the petition states..The petition also traces the origin of the SPG, which was put in place after the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi by her own bodyguards in 1984..“…details regarding the name and number of SPG personnel engaged in the personal security of the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India are not brought into public domain as unfortunately there has been assassination of two previous Prime Ministers of India.”Plea filed in Delhi High Court.Moreover, the information sought is held by the CPIO in a fiduciary capacity, and is thus exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(g) of the Act. It is also claimed that no public interest will be served by the disclosure of such information..On these grounds, among others, the CPIO has sought for directions to quash the CIC order and for the CIC to produce the entire record concerning the appeal..The petition has been filed through Central Government Counsel Rahul Sharma..The matter originates from an RTI application filed by former Indian Navy officer Commodore Lokesh Batra in June 2018. He had sought details of each foreign visit undertaken by the two Prime Ministers in Indian Air Force aircrafts for the period commencing April 1, 2013 till the date of the RTI application..In response to the application, the CPIO had stated that no visits were undertaken by PM Singh, while PM Modi made three trips during this period. However, the CPIO refused to reveal the Special Flight Returns of these trips, on the ground that they contained sensitive information..Commodore Batra then filed an appeal against this denial, which was also rejected. Ultimately, the matter came up before the CIC, before which he clarified that he was not interested in knowing the names of the security personnel of PM's entourage. He also cited two previous decisions of the CIC - one which castigated the Air Force for not providing expenditure details of the PM's visit and another where the Prime Minister’s Office was directed to provide details of private persons (who do not have any connection with security) and who accompanied the Prime Minister on his international visits at public cost from 2014 till 2017..In its order, the Commission rejected the denial of part information under Section 8(l)(e) of RTI Act, as the CPIO has not provided any reasons for invoking the said clause..The Commission thus directed the CPIO to provide the certified copies of available and relevant SFRs sought by the applicant after severing the names and other relevant identifying particulars of the security/SPG personnel.