Letters of support by parties to be under RTI ambit: CIC

New Delhi, July 7 (PTI) Letters of support by political
parties given to the president pledging their support for
forming a government at the Centre has been brought under the
ambit of Right to Information by the Central Information
Commission (CIC).

In a recent decision, the Central Information Commission
held that the information provided to the president by various
political parties cannot be treated as one emanating from
"fiduciary relationship" and thus cannot be denied under the
Act.

Exercising his Right to Information, Kerala-based
advocate T Asaf Ali, in 2007, had asked for a copy of letters
given by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Dravida
Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other
coalition partners of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to
then President A P J Abdul Kalam extending support to Congress
leader Manmohan Singh for forming a government at the Centre.

The information was, however, denied by the Central
Public Information Officer (CPIO). "... These letters were
given under fiduciary relationship between the authors of
their letter and the president, therefore they come under
Section 8(e) of the Right to Information Act," Nitin Wakankar
said in response to the RTI query.

After being denied information from the First Appellate
Authority at the President's Secretariat, Ali filed his second
appeal before the CIC.

Hearing the appeal, Chief Information Commissioner
Wajahat Habibullah held "To come within the ambit of Fiduciary
Relationship, trust becomes an inalienable component...the
information provided by various political parties cannot be
treated as one emanating from Fiduciary Relationship and that
makes Section 8 (1) (e) inapplicable..."

Habibullah also directed the CPIO to provide the
information to the applicant within 15 days.

According to Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act: "information
available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless
the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public
interest warrants the disclosure of such information."

"Political parties are independent entities and have a
juristic personality of their own. They have no official
dealing with the President of India nor do they interact with
the President or the President interacts with them in the
decision making process.

"... the President has acted on the letters submitted by
them (political parties) and the power of the President to act
upon such letters is discretionary. Hence, the argument that
the letters of supporting UPA government by political parties
to the President is in a fiduciary capacity is far fetched,"
Habibullah said in his order.

He further agreed to the appellant's argument that the
authors of these letters have themselves disclosed the content
of these letters to the media hence secrecy or fiduciary
relationship is not involved. PTI SWT
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