A response to a query submitted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has, reportedly, revealed that the Lokpal selection committee met for the first time in March 2018, nearly four years after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

However, the RTI response declined to give the minutes of the six meetings that have been held since March, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to the government, the minutes cannot be made public since “high-level dignitaries” attended the meetings, which necessitated classifying the minutes as “secret documents”.

In its RTI response, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said, “As regards the minutes of the meetings it is submitted that the authorship of such documents which include 3-5 high level dignitaries does not vest in the Department of Personnel & Training and (the) same have been shared as secret documents. Thus copies of the said documents cannot be provided by the undersigned CPIO (Central Public Information Officer).”

This reason cited by the DoPT, however, appears to be a baseless one since the Public Information Officer (PIO) has not stated any exemptions under the RTI Act to decline providing the details asked in the RTI application. As such, this display of lack of credulousness adds to the imagery of the BJP government not being inclined towards appointing the Lokpal as it had promised in its 2014 election manifesto.

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