New Delhi: Law Minister M Veerappa Moily
today said the release of a letter of the then Chief Election
Commissioner N Gopalaswami to the President seeking removal of
fellow Commissioner Navin Chawla under RTI Act was cleared by
his predecessor H R Bhardwaj and the media was picking up an
"outdated" news.
"It was cleared by Mr Bhardwaj. It was cleared before
I took over ... I don't think there is any new thing or
exciting thing. I was really surprised how the journalists
picked up the news that is outdated," Moily told reporters
here.
He said the letter was released under the RTI Act "in
the normal course".
When asked why the Law Ministry released the letter
when the President's Secretariat had refused to make it
public, he said Rashtrapati Bhavan cannot release a document
"because that was the job of the administrative ministry."
In the case of Election Commission, the Law Ministry
is the administrative ministry.
To a poser on whether the letter was released before
Chawla wrote that it should not be made public, Moily said he
was not aware of the timing.
"Chawla must have (written) at that time, to the
President of India. Now there is an RTI law. One has to be
transparent. Nothing wrong to release it. That was the
decision of the Law Ministry then even before I took over," he
added.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 08, 2010, 23:39