Tags: Central Information Commission, New Delhi:
Breaking news:
CIC orders disclosure of President's tea party list. Decision Date: 6/9/2010
Background:
The guests at the tea-party hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the eve of
Independence Day and Republic Day are "personal invitees" of the
President whose identity could not be disclosed, the President's
Secretariat has said.
The Secretariat has said the list of invitees has been treated as
private because this is a list of the President's "personal invitees
selected from among the members of the public" and come under
fiduciary relationship.
"Besides the list has remained uniform and, therefore, its disclosure
could pose a security threat for some if placed in the public domain,"
Central Public Information Officer Faiz Ahmed Kidwai said in reply to
an RTI application.
The stand taken by the President's Secretariat has also been vetted by
the Ministry of Law and Justice which opined that the invitation is
extended by the President of India and it would be his discretion to
request the pleasure of the company of any invitee.
The Law Ministry said the recommendations, if any, for extending the
invitation for the "at home" tea party hosted on Rashtrapati Bhavan
Campus are in "fiduciary relationship" and thus exempted from
disclosure under the transparency law.
"A fiduciary relationship includes not only legal and technical
relations but extends to every possible case in which a fiduciary
relationship exists in fact and to which there is confidence reposed
on one side and relating domination and influence on the other," the
ministry opined.
The case relates to the RTI application filed by one S Ganapathi of
Andhra Pradesh who wanted to know the list of NGOs Non-Governmental
Organisations along with their postal addresses, contact number which
attended "At Home Tea Party" with former President APJ Abdul Kalam on
the eve of Republic day and Independence day.
The Department of Personnel and Training has also expressed similar
opinion on the disclosure of the guest list. "Who, except the official
invitees, should be invited to the 'At Home function' is a private
affair of he President which has no relationship with any public
activity or interest. Disclosure of this information would amount to
unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the President," it said.
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