CIC raps Centre for hiding Bofors details

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has taken serious note of the Government withholding information on the expenses incurred in the investigation of the Bofors pay off case.

The CIC has directed CBI to furnish details within 15 days to a Cuttack-based advocate Kedar Nath Jena, who had moved an RTI application seeking this information from the home ministry.

This also included costs incurred on the prosecution and extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the two-decade-old case.

"We must take adverse notice of the entire processing of this case, which was admittedly received in the Ministry on 6 February, last year, but has yet not been responded to with a complete reply, even though information is held by the government," Central Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said in an order delivered on Wednesday.

The home ministry was directed to inquire into the reasons for delaying with the application of the advocate and sought its report within 20 days by identifying the persons responsible for failing to discharge their duty.

Six months after Jena's RTI application, he received a response in July last from the home ministry stating that his request had been forwarded for necessary action to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

The DoPT, however, referred the application back to the home ministry on procedural grounds.

A month later, the application was referred to CBI which sent a letter asking Jena to apply for information afresh as the validity of demand draft of Rs 10 required as fee under the RTI Act had expired.

In its response, CBI Additional SP Keshav Mishra informed Jena that he should write afresh to agency's SP Neerja Gotru.

Dissatisfied with the response, Jena filed a complaint with the CIC in September last.

During the hearing, the ministry submitted that it had forwarded Jena's RTI request to the pay and account section as no nodal officer dealing with such requests was appointed then.

The application had been kept lying there for five months till it was forwarded to the CBI in August.

The CBI, on its part, however, submitted since similar questions were also raised in Parliament, it had collected extensive if not complete information.