The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will have to take permission from the Lok Sabha (LS) Speaker and the Rajya Sabha (RS) chairperson before revealing any information related to the assets of the Union ministers, the Central Information Commission said on Monday. The commission passed the direction on the plea of petitioner S.C. Agarwal, who had sought information on assets, wealth and income of all the Union ministers. Disposing of the petition, chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said that not only the PMO will have take clearance from the RS chairman and LS Speaker, but also will have to do so in case of all future RTI pleas of this nature.
The issue of taking clearance from the presiding officers of the two Houses had arisen after it was pointed out that the ministers were also members of Parliament, who were supposed to declare their assets during elections. However, the Lok Sabha had earlier said that its permission was not needed as the information in this regard was held by the PMO.
Initially, Mr Agarwal had sent his RTI plea to the Cabinet Secretariat following which a question arose whether it was the Secretariat or the PMO, which had the information on wealth, assets and income of ministers. However, after correspondence between the two offices and the CIC, it was finally decided that PMO would give the information sought. But Mr Habibullah also directed the PMO to seek clearance from the chiefs of the two Houses.