'Make public why there is delay in Guru's mercy plea'

The Central Information Commission has directed the Lieutenant Governor's office to make public the reasons for delay in deciding the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The direction comes following the RTI petition filed by Mumbai-based activist Chetan Kothari who had sought to know from the Delhi government the reasons for delay in deciding the mercy plea.

The government has refused to provide information saying the "reasons" cannot be provided in the RTI reply as they do not come under the definition of "information" given in the law. It said there is no time limit fixed for deciding on the mercy pleas. In its reply, Central Public Information Officer said the mercy application has been forwarded to Lieutenant Governor's office and he does not have any information after that.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi directed the official to transfer the application to the Lieutenant Governor's office for reply and further asked him to provide reasons for delay, if any, recorded on the file of Afzal Guru.

"The CPIO who holds the file will send the reasons for delay if any recorded on the file to the appellant. If there are no reasons recorded he will inform the appellant accordingly," Gandhi said.

The home ministry had refused to provide any file notings on the movement of Guru's mercy plea, citing "safety and security concern."

The MHA in reply to another RTI query filed by Ashwini Shrivastava had said, "The matter is under consideration in this Ministry in consultation with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi for submission to the President's Secretariat for a final decision. "A request for getting copies of the file notings, therefore, is declined under Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act in view of the safety and security concern."