PMO does volte face, says it had reports on Volcker

Doing a volte face after five years, the Prime Minister’s Office has admitted before the Central Information Commission that reports given by the then special envoy Virendra Dayal on Volcker Committee, which probed Iraq oil-for-food scam, are with it but cannot be made public. The controversy led to the ouster of External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh from the Cabinet in 2004.

The PMO’s change in stand came five years after it had claimed before the then Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah that it did not hold the reports. Also, the ED, which had even challenged in the Supreme Court Habibullah’s order to produce files related to the reports before him, took an about turn and claimed in a recent hearing that the reports were not with it.

The discrepancies in government positions were evident during the hearing on RTI application of Arun Agrawal, who wanted the reports to be made public.