Release of Gopalaswami letter was cleared by Bhardwaj: Moily

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New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today said the release of a letter of the then Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami to the President seeking removal of fellow Commissioner Navin Chawla under RTI Act was cleared by his predecessor H R Bhardwaj and the media was picking up an"outdated"news.

"It was cleared by Mr Bhardwaj. It was cleared before I took over . I don&apost think there is any new thing or exciting thing. I was really surprised how the journalists picked up the news that is outdated,"Moily told reporters here.

He said the letter was released under the RTI Act"in the normal course".

When asked why the Law Ministry released the letter when the President&aposs Secretariat had refused to make it public, he said Rashtrapati Bhavan cannot release a document"because that was the job of the administrative ministry."

In the case of Election Commission, the Law Ministry is the administrative ministry.

To a poser on whether the letter was released before Chawla wrote that it should not be made public, Moily said he was not aware of the timing.

"Chawla must have (written) at that time, to the President of India. Now there is an RTI law. One has to be transparent. Nothing wrong to release it. That was the decision of the Law Ministry then even before I took over,"he added.

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