HC sets aside CIC's penalty against Centre

The Delhi High Court today set aside the CIC's order imposing Rs 25,000 as fine on the External Affairs Ministry's PIO for delay in giving a Kerala MLA some information on Indo-Russia trade agreement on an RTI application.
Disposing of the Centre's plea against the transparency panel's order, Justice V K Jain set aside the July, 2011 order imposing the fine on the MEA PIO for the delay.
The CIC had passed the order on the plea of P C George, a Kerala MLA from Poonjar assembly segment and also the chief whip of the state's ruling party, who had sought to know from the Ministry's Principal Information Officer in 2008 if India had any trade agreement with Russia on the basis of special payment arrangements like Rupee-Rouble debt agreement.

"The court (Justice Jain) directed the Ministry of External Affairs to provide copies of the documents through counsel within two weeks.... The petition is disposed. The cost of Rs 25,000 was set aside," said Wills Mathews counsel, who appeared for George, in the case.
With the Ministry refusing to part with the information to George on the ground that the issue involved a foreign government and required its consent for divulging the information, the MLA had challenged the Ninistry's refusal before the CIC.
The CIC had subsequently in January 2010, asked the Ministry to provide the requisite information to George by February 2010, but following the Ministry's failure to comply with its order, it imposed the fine on the PIO on July 11, last year.

In its plea before the High Court, the Centre challenged the CIC's order saying the information sought by George pertains to bilateral agreement with a foreign government and it required the time-consuming process of taking the foreign government's consent before making any disclosure.
"The Rupee-Rouble Debt Agreement, being an inter-governmental agreement, binds both parties legally and it is implicit that the content of this agreement, being financial in nature, would require formal consent of the other legal signatory," government said.