CIC wants PM to take call on sharing Shastri papers
All classified records pertaining to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death at Tashkent in a Soviet dacha in 1966 should be placed before the PM and home minister to take a call on whether these can be shared with people, the Central Information Commission said on Monday.
The directives were issued to the central public information officers of the PMO, external affairs ministry and home ministry on an RTI application seeking to know if autopsy was conducted on Shastri.
“People’s right to know the ‘ truth’ behind the death of Shastri cannot be brushed aside,” the commission said while hitting out at denial of information to an RTI applicant by the government.
The Central In formation Commission on Monday stated that all classified records pertaining to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death should be placed before the Prime Minister and home minister to take call on their declassification. The directives were issued to the central public information officers of the Prime Minister’s Office, External Affairs Ministry and Home Ministry on the plea of an RTI applicant seeking to know if autopsy was done on Shastri who had died on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent in a Soviet dacha. “The Commission directs... To place all those so- called ‘ classified papers’ before the prime minister and the home minister, who are recommended to consider the fundamental right to know and demand of the people... To declassify ( the records) either through an expert committee or by any other process to get the mystery probed and resolved,” information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said.
He also expressed surprise that there are no records with the Rajya Sabha pertaining to the Raj Narain Committee to look into Shastri’s death initiated during the Janata Party government in late seventies. “Parliament is known for meticulous maintenance of documents. Every word uttered in Parliament is recorded and kept in public domain, a humongous task the office is perfectly performing. Then how such a significant record disappeared,” he said.