'Media report unnecessarily dragging Kejriwal'

The Delhi government Friday rebutted a media report about Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal allegedly evading answers under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, describing it as "unnecessarily dragging the chief minister's name".

According to a media report, published Friday, an RTI applicant Dev Ashish Bhattacharya did not get an answer from the government's department.

He had asked what amount the Delhi government spent on swearing-in ceremony at Ramlila Maidan and on the sprucing up of the Bhagwan Das Road residence allocated to Kejriwal.

"In the news story, facts related to the Chief Secretary's Office appear to have been mixed up with the Chief Minister's Office, since the story itself clearly mentions that the information was sought from the Chief Secretary's Office, then why has the CM's name been dragged into it?"

"The news story appears to have been published with the sole intention of unnecessarily dragging the chief minister's name on wrong assumptions and incorrect interpretation of the RTI Act, 2005," an official statement said.

"It is also being made absolutely clear to remove all doubts and misgivings that the Public Information Officer does not require any permission from any authority whatsoever for providing information under the RTI Act," it added.