The Central Information Commission (CIC) has requested details of the flights and security coverage of PM
New Delhi:
The Indian Air Force or IAF today filed a statement with the Delhi High Court challenging an order from the Central Information Commission (CIC) to provide information on Special Flight Returns (SRF) -II, saying it relates to details of the prime minister’s security apparatus and cannot be provided.
The Air Force statement has stated that the “requested information includes details relating to the entire entourage, names of the personnel of the Special Protection Group (SPG) accompanying the Prime Minister of India on trips abroad for his personal safety, and the same, if it is revealed it can potentially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, the strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State.
The petition, filed through central government main panel attorney Rahul Sharma and advocate CK Bhatt, is on appeal against the CIC’s July 8 order to the IAF to provide certified copies of returns of Special flights available and relevant-ll to RTI Commodore (retd) applicant Lokesh K Batra.
Mr. Batra had requested certified copies of SRF-I and SRF-II in respect of each foreign visit by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also Prime Minister Narendera Modi from April 2013 onwards.
Indian Air Force, in its pleading, states that the CIC “has not appreciated or considered that the information requested by the defendant (Batra) from the petitioner (Air Force) cannot be disclosed and the defendant’s request to search for it must not been allowed as the information requested is extremely sensitive in nature … “
The petition maintains that the requested copies of the SRF refer to “official records of the functioning and functioning of the security apparatus of the Prime Minister of India which cannot be made public for security reasons.”
The matter is likely to go to a hearing on Friday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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