NEW DELHI: The
Central Information Commission (
CIC) has asked the Prime Minister's Office (
PMO) to answer
RTI queries addressed to it instead of directing them to the department of personnel (
DoPT).
In an order on RTI queries addressed to PMO, the CIC said there was no requirement to send them to DoPT and asked for an explanation for the delay in response.
The strictures came on a series of RTI pleas filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd) who had sought details of the file notings related to appointment of information commissioners, proposed RTI rules, 2017 and a travel bill of the prime minister.
According to the Right to Information Act, when an application is made to a public authority requesting for an information, which is held by another public body or the subject matter of which is more closely connected with the functions of another public authority, the application is directed to the authority concerned. However, in two of the RTIs filed by Batra, the information sought had been with the PMO, which referred them to DoPT.
In an order, chief information commissioner RK Mathur said, "The Commission is of the view that the appellant has specifically sought information as available in PMO. Hence,a transfer of this RTI application to DoPT was not required."
