On the issue of disclosing the expenses incurred on Air India for the prime minister’s abroad visit from 2013 to 2017, the external affairs ministry has received a directive from the Central Information Commission. It has asked the MEA to disclose the same.
Chief information commissioner RK Mathur discarded the argument of the ministry. It was the ministry that held the details of the amount etc raised by Indian Air Force and Air India for the foreign visits. Also, the details spread across various records would require assembling and searching of voluminous files.
Relevance of the case
The case gained relevance after Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.) sought the details of bills and invoices of the abroad visits of Prime Minister between 2013-14 and 2016-17.
Batra, during the hearing, brought attention to the incomplete information provided by the ministry. Post the delivery of incomplete information, he approached the Commission. The commission is the top appellate authority in matters pertaining to the Right to Information Act. He added that he wanted the general public to know with which public authority these bills and invoices are pending for payment.
These records cannot be kept aside in the costume of national security; cited by a public authority to deny requested information.
CIC hearing
CIC Commissioner Mathur heard the appeal of both the sides. He said that the payment of outstanding dues would require assembling of these bills and invoices. Additionally, he rejected the argument of the MEA that assembling would disproportionately divert its resources.
“Further, whatever payment is to be made, it needs to be done after collecting the bills/invoices. In view of this, the Commission is of the opinion that the respondent (MEA) should provide to the appellant (Batra) travel bills relating to ‘Air India’ from FYs. 2013-14 to 2016-17,” he said.