HC stays CIC order to disclose whether Khemka considered for central govt deputation

The Delhi High Court has stayed a CIC direction to the DoPT to disclose whether IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who cancelled Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra's alleged illegal land deal in Gurgaon, was considered for deputation at the Centre.

The order by a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar came on a plea by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which had challenged the Central Information Commission's (CIC) January 18, 2017 decision.

The CIC, in its order, had directed the DoPT to disclose whether the name of Khemka, a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, was placed before the Civil Services Board (CSB) for deputation as joint secretary to the Government of India under the Central Staffing Scheme of 2014.

The CIC's decision was upheld by a single-judge bench of the high court on August 25 last year.

The DoPT, in its appeal filed through advocates Rahul Sharma and C K Bhatt, has said similar matters where the CIC had ordered disclosure of records of the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) were already pending in the high court, which had stayed the decision of the transparency panel.

Taking note of the submission, the bench put on hold the operation of the January 18, 2017 order till the next date of hearing on November 14.

The court also issued notice to Khemka, also known for the numerous times he has been transferred, asking him to clarify his stand on the DoPT's appeal before the next date.

The DoPT, in its plea, has claimed that the information sought by Khemka was exempted from the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The petition has also claimed that the information sought is held in a fiduciary capacity by the DoPT and therefore, cannot be provided under the RTI Act.