Milap Choraria (Editor) 18 September 2009

Attorney General's Opinion

I submitted application under RTI Act, to the President's Secretariat to know some information very important. President's Secretariat (not the President) through Law Ministry seek legal Opinion from the Attorney General of India, whether such Information should be supplied to me or not, and Attorney General given opinion not to disclose the requisitioned Information to me. Thereafter, I seek certified copy of aforesaid Legal Opinion given by the Attorney General; which is contrary to my constitutional right to know the respective information, but the said Legal Opinion given by the Attorney General subsequently is declared by Ministry of Law and Justice as "Confidential and Privileged Document". Is it is not against the basis of the fundamental rights of individuals to know about any action effecting his any right or privilege?

Milap Chorari

milap_choraria@yahoo.com

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Anil Agrawal (Retired) 18 September 2009

RTI Act prohibits information disclosure that is mentioned in Sec.8. No more no less. There is nothing confidentiality or secrecy. Read Sec.8(2)

Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with sub-section (1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests.

You file an appeal and ask how the disclosure will harm the protected interests?

I find no provision in the RTI Act which enjoins the CPIO to consult another authority for providing the informtion in the form in which it has been sought. How can CPIO of Rashtrapati Bhawan consult the Attorney General in performance of his statutory duty? Either he rejects it giving reasons or gives information.

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