New Delhi: Delhi High Court today stayed a Central Information Commission (CIC) order directing the Lt Governor's secretariat to disclose communications made between the LG and Arvind Kejriwal when he was Delhi Chief Minister. Justice Rajiv Shakdher, while restraining operation of the CIC's December 30, 2014 order, also issued notice to the RTI applicant, who had sought the information, directing him to file his response by the next date of hearing, May one.
The order was passed on a plea by the LG's secretariat, represented by Delhi government standing counsel Zubeda Begum, which said that under the Constitution there is a “bar on the courts in inquiring into advice tendered by the Council of Ministers to the Governor”.
It has said in the instant case, RTI applicant Rakesh Agarwal has sought information which is “advice” rendered by the Council of Ministers and thus, “is barred from any form of judicial scrutiny”.
Agarwal, in his Right to Information (RTI) application, had sought “copies of all correspondences and other forms of communications exchanged between Kejriwal or his office and the Lt Governor or his office together with certified copies of the connected files and file noting since December 8, 2013, upto the date of providing information”.
