Ministry of Finance approaches HC challenging the appointment of PIO
4 Feb, 2013An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Ministry of Finance seeking information related to use of currency notes to felicitate the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in 2010.
The ministry returned the application stating that the ministry doesn’t have any PIO following which the applicant approached the Central Information Commission (CIC) for the redressal of his complaint. The CIC ordered the Ministry to appoint an exclusive RTI officer stating that as there is a separate government entity with the name ‘Ministry of Finance’, so it must have a PIO.
The Ministry has challenged this order of CIC in the Delhi High Court contending that as all the five departments under the Ministry of Finance i.e. Economic Affairs, Revenue, Expenditure, Financial Services and Disinvestment, have their own PIO. Hence, a separate PIO for the ministry would complicate the matter and make the whole process time consuming.
There is no PIO to process queries which are directed to the Ministry.