to provide information regarding Special Flight Returns (SRF)-II, saying
it
relates
to
details
of the Prime Minister’s
security
apparatus and
cannot be provided.
The IAF plea has claimed that the “information so sought includes
details related
to the entire entourage, names
of Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel accompanying the Prime Minister
of India on foreign tours for
his personal safety, and the same, if disclosed, can potentially affect the sovereignty and integrity
of India, the
security, strategic, scientific or economic interests
of the State”.
The petition, filed through central government senior panel counsel Rahul Sharma and advocate C K Bhatt, is in appeal against the CIC’s July 8 direction
to IAF
to provide certified copies
of available and relevant Special Flight Returns-ll
to RTI applicant Commodore (retd) Lokesh K Batra.
Batra had sought certified copies
of SRF-I and SRF-II with regard
to each foreign visit
of former PM Manmohan Singh
as also Prime Minister Narendera Modi from April 2013 onwards.
IAF, in its plea, claims that the CIC has “failed
to appreciate and consider that the information sought by the respondent (Batra) from the petitioner (Air Force)
cannot be disclosed and the application
of the respondent for seeking the same ought not
to have been allowed
as the information sought is extremely sensitive in nature…”
The petition contends that the SRF copies sought relate
to “official records
of functioning and working
of the
security
apparatus
of the Prime Minister
of India which
cannot be brought in public domain for safety and
security reasons”.
The matter is likely
to come up for hearing on Friday.