At a time when the Tamil Nadu government has renewed its efforts to get the seven life convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case released, Rashtrapati Bhavan has said the President’s Secretariat had not received the State’s previous recommendations for remission of sentences of these prisoners.
Replying to an application filed under the Right to Information Act by A.G. Perarivalan, one of the seven convicts, seeking copies of the files relating to his petition for premature release forwarded by the State, the Chief Public Information Officer (CPIO), Rashtrapati Bhavan, said his petition [58720/CTS-VIA/2008 dated 02/03/2016] “has not been received in the concerned sections of this Secretariat.”
Referring to queries on the Cabinet/Ministry of Home Affairs recommendations, the President’s Secretariat forwarded the petition to the Ministry of Home Affairs stating that the information asked for pertained or closely related to the functions of the Ministry.
Perarivalan had filed the application under RTI Act days after the Home Ministry in its communication dated April 18, 2018 said “the Central Government, in pursuance of Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, does not concur with the proposal of the Government of Tamil Nadu contained in its communication dated 02/03/2016 for grant of remission of sentence to the seven convicts.”
This Home Ministry letter was signed “By order and in the name of the President of India” by V.B Dubey, Joint Secretary to the Government of India.
Option of appeal
Since the President’s Secretariat said it did not receive any proposal on remission from the Tamil Nadu government and also gave an option of appeal to the petitioner, Perarivalan, lodged in Puzhal central prison in Chennai, has written to the appellate authority in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He stated that since the order was issued in the name of the President, the CPIO of President’s Secretariat ought to have either provided the details of the information sought or refused to provide the same.
However, he transferred the RTI request to the MHA defying logic.
Though every executive action of the Government of India is undertaken in the name of the President of India, the template “By order and in the name of the President of India” is not used in all orders.
Emphasising his right to know who took a decision on his remission/release, Perarivalan said the CPIO of President’s Secretariat ought to have provided the rules and informed as to why the order (of the MHA) containing the template was issued in the name of the President when his petition forwarded by the State was not received at all.
