The Central Information Commission (CIC) directed the Presidents' Office to seek the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Naveen Chawla's opinion on disclosing a letter his predecessor R. Gopalaswami wrote to President Pratibha Patil regarding Chawla's alleged 'partisan' functioning.
The decision came on an application filed by Right to Information (RTI) activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal who sought a copy of Gopalaswami's letter.
The President's Secretariat had rejected Agrawal's plea stating that the disclosure would amount to invasion of privacy, after which the applicant filed an appeal with the CIC.
While hearing the case, CIC Wajahat Habibullah upheld the decision of the President's Secretariat.
“....There is then no doubt that the information sought is third party and held in confidence by the president. This is, therefore, clearly third party information qualifying for the protection allowed by the (RTI) Act as such,” Habibullah noted in his order.
“Before any decision is taken to disclose the same...the CPIO will refer the matter to the third party Naveen Chawla, CEC.....to obtain his opinion on the disclosability of this information,” Habibullah directed.