Jinnah House dispute: Wadias get no help from CIC

The full bench of the Central Information Commission (CIC) has
provided little succour to the Wadia family in its battle over the
Jinnah House as it tossed the matter back to the first appellate
authority of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The CIC, however, said that the MEA should try to divulge information
on the Jinnah House within 15 days if it feels the revelation does
not affect relations with Pakistan. It said that it is for the MEA's
first appellate authority to decide which "sensitive" information
should be disclosed.

The Wadias have been asking the government for ownership rights of
Jinnah House, which belonged to Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Dina Wadia,
Jinnah's daughter and Nusli Wadia's mother, is the sole heir and had
staked claim to the property. While she wanted to maintain it as a
heritage property, the Pakistan High Commission has been seeking the
Centre's permission to open a consulate there.

Nusli Wadia took the RTI route to get information regarding a letter
written by his mother to the then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and the
discussions Wadia had with the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant
Singh.

In his representation, Wadia had claimed Singh had assured him that
leasehold rights would be given to his mother. The Wadias approached
MEA for these documents as they had filed a writ in Bombay High
Court. However, they received only a few documents as the MEA invoked
Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act that gives the public authority
powers to not to reveal information that could prejudicially affect
foreign relations with a friendly country.

"We also have on record a communication from the then External
Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh… that he had indeed made certain
recommendations… which had been approved by Prime Minister A B
Vajpayee and that he would be willing to swear as much on oath. The
material is already in the public domain…," The full bench,
comprising Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and
Information Commissioners M M Ansari and O P Kejariwal, ruled last
week.

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