New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the external affairs ministry to disclose records related to the expenses incurred on chartering Air India aircraft for abroad visits of the prime minister from 2013 to 2017.
Chief information commissioner RK Mathur rejected the contention of the ministry that details of the amount, reference numbers, dates of bills raised by Indian Air Force and Air India for the foreign visits undertaken by the Prime Minister are scattered across various records and files and collation of information in the manner sought by the appellant would involve searching of voluminous records by a significant number of officials.
The case pertains to Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd) who had sought to know details of bills, invoices and other records related to abroad visits of Prime Minister between Financial Years 2013-14 and 2016-17.
During the hearing, Batra said he was provided incomplete information by the ministry after which he approached the Commission which is the top appellate authority in matters pertaining to the Right to Information Act.