Information on visa details of foreigner can be disclosed: CIC
New Delhi, June. 13 (PTI): The Central
Information 
Commission (
CIC) has ruled that documents furnished by a foreigner for obtaining visa cannot be exempted from disclosure under the
RTI 
Act.
"I hold that the
information 
furnished by a foreigner for the grant of visa, or any other activity, connected with the grant of visa will have to be made public if a citizen seeks that
information 
under the
RTI 
Act,"
Information 
Commissioner A N Tiwari said in a recent decision.
The ruling came after an application was filed by Mumbai resident K R S Narayanan seeking details of immigration and issuance of visa to one Jane Elizabeth Cox, a British national who later married an Indian.
Terming the issuance of visa as a "public activity", the
CIC while acting on Narayanan's application has asked Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to provide him the
information 
on Cox's visa and immigration details within four weeks.
Rejecting MHA's contention that the
information 
asked for was "personal and private", the Commission said furnishing the documents to the government brings them under the public purview.
"Since there is a linear relationship between the furnishing of
information 
by an applicant for visa and the grant of visa to her/him and, grant or denial of visa being a public activity, the
information 
connected with that should be assumed to be in public domain," the Commission observed. An
RTI 
application was filed with the Deputy Secretary (Foreigners) of Home Ministry on July 30 last year.
The Hindu News Update Service