The Prime Minister's Office will take the nod of the Gujarat government and Chief Minister Narendra Modi for releasing the correspondence exchanged with the then prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, after the Godhra riots in 2002.
The information was earlier denied by the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the PMO, S E Rizwi, citing Section 8(1)(h) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, without giving any reason.
The section exempts information that would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
The decision was overturned during the appeal before his senior, Krishan Kumar, director PMO, where the applicant had objected to the response of the CPIO, saying he failed to give germane reasons behind denial of information.
The applicant had also underlined the correspondence was 11 years old and not likely to have an impact on the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of offenders.
Upholding the reasons given by the applicant, the appellate authority directed the CPIO to provide additional details with regard to the case.
"CPIO PMO, is directed to obtain fresh inputs in this regard and provide the same to the applicant within 15 working days," Krishan Kumar had decided.
In the latest response to the six-and-a-half-month-old RTI application, Rizvi said after the appeal decision, the matter was referred to the office for fresh inputs.
"It is informed that third party (the Gujarat government and Modi in the present case) consultation under Section 11(1) of the RTI Act is underway on a similar request and response regarding disclosure of information in this regard will be provided to you after due process as envisaged in Section 11 of the Act is completed," he said.
