The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Monday directed the Prime Minister's Office to declare Union Ministers' assets after getting the nod from the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker, and said the opinion of the heads of both Houses will be applicable to all future Right to Information queries seeking such information.
Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah passed the order while hearing a petition from RTI activist Subhash Agarwal, who sought details of the assets, wealth and income of all Union Ministers from the Cabinet Secretariat.
As the matter was sensitive, the file on the issue was shuttling between the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat to decide on who held the information. Finally it was decided that the PMO would provide the information.
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Since the Ministers were basically MPs, the Commission discussed whether the nod of the respective Chair was needed for the PMO to disclose their assets.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat opined that as per rules, there was no need for the Speaker's permission to declare the assets of Ministers, information on which was held by the PMO.