Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) The Central Information Commission (CIC) has suggested that records of the domestic and international travel of union ministers could be maintained centrally by the cabinet secretariat for more transparency.

“We think that it would be in the interest of transparency if information about the domestic and international travel by ministers could be maintained centrally in the secretariat itself,” the CIC ruled on a plea filed by an Right to Information (RTI) activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal.

Agrawal has submitted an application under RTI seeking various information regarding air travel, both national and international, of union ministers in the last three years.

The CIC also said that since the pay and accounts office of cabinet secretariat is responsible for all accounting details for payment of the salary of ministers and reimbursement of their travel expenditure, there could be a central system for information on travels made by the ministers.

Unable to provide a reply to Agarwal’s query, the government’s central public information officer (CPIO) had told the CIC that the information regarding travels was not maintained in the form in which it had been sought.

“There are very large volume of records which would have to be scrutinised to collate. It disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority,” the official contended.