Will provide letters between PM, Raja to RTI applicant: PMO

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Wednesday assured that it would provide all the correspondence between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and and former Telecom Minister A Raja in connection with 2G spectrum allocation, responding to an RTI request sent to it by the Chief Information Commission after reframing the queries.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi had on Tuesday directed the PMO to provide "attested copies of records regarding charges of corruption against Raja and copies of file notings or correspondence of the PMO in this regard" before July 10. It came in response to a request by an applicant seeking to know reasons why Raja was part of the Cabinet despite allegations of corruption. He claimed in his appeal before the CIC that the PMO denied the information saying it did not have any record relating to allegations against Raja.

Refuting this, the PMO said in a statement on Wednesday it had not denied any information, but the appropriate material could not be given because "the actual request made was not" in the letters between Singh and Raja.

The CIC noted that the appellant had "framed his queries in Hindi and his queries are a mix of allegations and his desire for what the nation should be". "...after discussions with the appellant, the re-framed query is being given to the PIO," Gandhi said in his order.

The PMO assured that copies of the same would be made available to the applicant.

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