The Delhi High Court has delayed the release of details about foreign travels by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, citing security concerns. The case was initiated by a Right to Information activist.
On Monday, the Delhi High Court upheld its earlier decision to stay the disclosure of information about foreign trips taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh between April 2013 and June 2018. This decision was made in response to a petition filed by Lokesh K Batra, a former Navy officer and Right to Information activist, who sought detailed records of these travels conducted on Indian Air Force aircraft. The requested information included details about the aircraft, crew, and entourage, including the names of security personnel accompanying the prime ministers. The case has been ongoing since 2020 when the Delhi High Court initially stayed the Central Information Commission’s order directing disclosure of the information.
In a hearing on Thursday, the petitioner argued that the information concerned expenditure from public funds and was therefore in the larger public interest. However, the court maintained its stance that the mere fact that public funds had been spent on foreign travel did not, by itself, ‘justify disclosure of information which may compromise the security arrangements put in place for such visits’. The Indian Air Force had previously argued that the details sought by the petitioner were ‘extremely sensitive in nature’ as they related to the matter of the prime minister’s security arrangements.
Source:
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