A day after State Information Commission (SIC) issued a notice to the superintendent of the Cabinet branch to clarify reasons for not providing property details of the Chief Minister and his colleagues, Haryana Government on Wednesday clarified that the information was not denied by the Government.
Talking to the mediapersons, Haryana Chief Secretary DS Dhesi said that the decision to refuse to provide property details of Chief Minister and his colleagues under the RTI Act was not of the State Government but of State Public Information Officer (SPIO) designated under the RTI Act.
Dhesi said that the SPIO had exercised his quasi judicial powers with his wisdom.
The Chief Secretary added that if one is not satisfied with the decision of the SPIO, an appeal can be made to the higher authority as specified under the RTI Act.
A day before the State Information Commission (SIC) had issued a notice and summoned the superintendent of the Cabinet branch for July 28 and directed the official to clarify reasons by July 15 for not providing property details of the Chief Minister and his colleagues.
RTI activist PP Kapoor from Panipat had filed an application under the RTI Act, seeking the list of all Cabinet Ministers, their property details and information about those who had not submitted the details to the State Government.
The authorities concerned had however refused to furnish the details on the pretext that the information is of personal nature.
Dissatisfied over the decision, Kapoor had filed an appeal with the first appellant authority on April 1. “The information requested by you is of personal nature, which stands exempted from disclosure under clause (i) of Section 8 (I) of the RTI Act,” said the first appellant authority.
Kapoor had however said, “Under the code of conduct drafted by the Centre in 1964, Ministers must declare their assets within two months of their induction into the Cabinet. I had procured the same information when the Congress was in power in the State but the present Government denied to give the information.”
