Classified NDA papers on Jinnah House off limits to Dina Wadia: CIC
Sidharth
by Tannu Sharma, Oct 31, 2008
New Delhi, October 30 : The Central Information Commission has ordered
that certain documents and internal correspondence pertaining to the
NDA government's decision to hand over Jinnah House to Dina Wadia will
not be disclosed to her. Wadia, an octogenarian, is the sole legal
heir of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Acceding to the view of the three-member committee set up by the
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to look into the issue, Chief
Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, said, "It is within the
exclusive domain of the ministry to decide and determine as to whether
such disclosure is likely to have any impact on India's relations with
a foreign State or not." The CIC panel issued a directive barring her
from accessing some documents and internal communications of the then
foreign ministry, which under former foreign minister Jaswant Singh,
had taken a decision to hand over Jinnah House in Mumbai to the
family, preferably on a long lease. According to the MEA committee,
the disclosure of certain "classified" information to Wadia would
seriously impact India's relations with Pakistan.
As for Jaswant Singh's willingness to disclose the note himself on the
request of Nusli Wadia, Dina's son, the CIC observed, "This
willingness is in his individual capacity and not on behalf of the
ministry." It disregarded Singh's readiness to disclose the
information, saying it could not take into account the personal
decisions of any individual.
With this decision of the CIC, the battle for the mansion is likely to
become tougher for Wadia who is also fighting a case in the Bombay
High Court seeking rights of the property worth Rs 300 crore. She is
being opposed by the current Congress-led Government, which has
asserted that it has been the rightful custodian of the property ever
since Jinnah left for Pakistan at the time of Independence.
Earlier this month, however, Wadia was allowed access to the official
correspondence of Soli Sorabjee -- the then attorney general (AG) --
dated May 21 and October 10, 2002. Contrary to the MEA's view
regarding the AG's opinions, the CIC noted that the correspondence
actually "depicts a legal analysis of the law of inheritance
applicable in case of Khoja Shias."
At the time, the CIC had disagreed with the MEA committee and held
that it had not been explicitly stated that the disclosure of
Sorabjee's opinion would have some impact on Indian's relations with a
foreign country. The CIC panel had opined...