The Central Information Commission on Thursday asked the Prime Minister’s Office to reply to a Right to Information application that sought to know the status of Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha election promise of bringing back black money deposited in foreign bank accounts to the country, The Hindu reported. The RTI query, filed by Rajasthan resident Kanhaiya Lal, also sought information on whether the Modi-led government will introduce a law to remove corruption from the country.
At a video-conferencing hearing, Chief Information Commissioner RK Mathur observed that Lal, in his application to the PMO, had sought information on when black money “will be brought back to India and Rs 15 lakh will be deposited in the account of each poor [person]”, as Modi had promised during his Lok Sabha poll campaign. Mathur said the Jhalawar district resident’s RTI query also sought details of when the Centre will bring a law to rid the country of corruption, which was another election promise made by Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A PMO official, however, claimed that they had not responded to the application as they had not received it yet. Mathur then directed the authority to reply to the complainant within a fortnight.
In measures taken against black money holders in India so far, the central government has launched a drive to identify transactions made with illegally obtained cash and has also opened an extended window for Indian residents to disclose their undeclared assets.
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