CIC asks prime minister's office to disclose info on meetings

Not all meetings of the prime minister are sensitive to be withheld and their details should be provided under the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the prime minister's office (PMO).

Chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra rejected the contentions of the PMO which had claimed that such class of information could not be provided "without compromising interests of the state and other specified concerns".

The case relates to an RTI application filed by Sandeep Jalan of Mumbai-based Janhit Manch seeking to know the details of all the meetings participated by the prime minister between a specified period.

The information was rejected by the PMO saying the prime minister met people from all walks of life on different occasions and platforms and such meetings would be both formal and informal ones.

It said most of the information would come under the exemption clauses of the RTI Act withholding details as desired by Jalan.

"Not all meetings attended by the prime minister are of such nature that the details such as who all attended the meeting or the date on which the meeting took place could compromise the interest of the state," Mishra said.

He directed the PMO to provide details of the meetings participated by the prime minister and directed to omit only specific meetings which would come under the exemption clauses citing reasons for deleting information.

"Many of these meetings are routinely reported in the press, presumably released by the official machinery itself. Therefore, the desired information should be disclosed," he said.