Court blocks Narayanan-Vajpayee letters on Gujarat riots

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday set aside the Central Information Commission (CIC) order allowing disclosure of the correspondence between then president K.R. Narayanan and prime minister A.B. Vajpayee on the Gujarat riots of 2002.

Justice Anil Kumar allowed the central government's plea filed against the CIC order of Aug 8, 2006. The CIC had asked the government to disclose all the letters sent by Narayanan to Vajpayee from Feb 28, 2002, to March 15, 2002, relating to the Gujarat riots as sought by C. Ramesh through the Right To Information act.

"The order of the CIC dated 8 Aug, 2006, is liable to be set aside and the CIC cannot direct the petitioner (government) to produce the correspondence between the president and the prime minister," said the judge.

"Respondent No. 2 (C. Ramesh) is not entitled for the correspondence sought by him, which was exchanged between the president and the prime minister relating to the Gujarat riots," ruled Justice Kumar, who retires Wednesday.