HC stays Info panel order on Godhra letters

‘’The national security and integrity must prevail upon all the rights, even if they are enshrined under the Constitution of India,’’ the order said.

The Union of India had challenged the CIC order saying such informations are protected under Article 74(2) of the Constitution. “The correspondence between Narayanan and Vajpayee are protected from the public domain under Articles 74 and 78 of the Constitution”, were the submissions made by Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium and counsel Rajiv Mehra and Arvind Sharma appearing for the Centre.

Notwithstanding the reservation of both Rashtrapati Bhawan and the government, CIC on August 8 had called for the classified correspondence regarding the 2002 Gujarat riots. The full Bench headed by Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah had asked the Ministry of Personnel to submit the correspondence between February 28, 2002 to March 15, 2002.