Read Time: 08 minutes

Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on former Rajya Sabha Member and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s plea seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding Chinese encroachment on Indian territory.

The bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence and the Central Information Commission.

The court also sought response from the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) and the First Appellate Officer.

Accordingly, court posted the matter for further hearing on January 8, 2024.

Swamy, in his plea, stated that he had filed an RTI application on November 10, 2022 and sought information regarding Chinese encroachment on Indian territory.

He stated that the application was transferred between various departments and continued to be transferred even after the expiry of the timeline for receiving reply to the RTI Application. “Aggrieved by not receiving an effective response to his RTI Application, the Petitioner filed an RTI First Appeal dated 12th January 2023”, the plea said.

Swamy’s first appeal was also transferred between various departments and received no effective resolution. “Aggrieved by the non-resolution of his RTI Query or his First Appeal, the Petitioner approached the Chief Information Commission in Second Appeal dated 13th Match 2023…. It is pertinent to note that the Petitioner received a letter dated 15th March 2023, from the Ministry of External Affairs, once again informing him that his Appeal has been transferred, after filing of the Second Appeal”, the plea stated.

He, then, filed the second appeal in March 2023 before the Chief Information Commission but as per the petition, he never received a response to his request for expeditious decision. “The petitioner submits that as per law laid down by various High Courts, the CIC is under an obligation to dispose of all Second Appeals within a period of 45 days,” the plea stated.

“The information sought by the Petitioner is crucial information pertaining to the sovereignty and integrity of the Nation, and the relevance and requirement of the information will be defeated by delay”, the plea read.

The RTI application filed to CPIO for Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, under Section 6 of the RTI Act, seeks the following information:

1) What extent of the Sovereign Land of the Republic of India has been acquired by the People's Republic of China by India, across 1996 mutually agreed upon Line of Actual Control? Kindly provide a map of the same.

2) What extent of India's Sovereign land has been ceded to China due to further creation of buffer zones or "no man's land", across the mutually agreed upon Line of Actual Control in 1996? Kindly provide a map of the same.

3) What extent of India's sovereign land has been ceded to the People's Republic of China since 2014? Kindly provide a map of the same, each year wise.

4) What extent of India's Sovereign land has been lost due to the further creation of buffer zones or "no man's land" since 2014? Kindly provide a map of the same.

5) Under what agreement or otherwise India had ceded the Aksai Chin region to China? If so, kindly provide documentation of the same, including the area ceded.

6)  How many times, and on what dates has there been Chinese military illegal incursions over Indian territory across the mutually agreed upon Line of Actual Control between the countries since 1996? Kindly provide details of the same.

7)  How many people have been displaced in India due to the creation of buffer zones or no man 's land, or ceding of India 's territory, since the drawing of the mutually agreed upon Line of Actual Control between the countries since 1996? Kindly provide details of the same.

Case Title: Dr. Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India & Ors.