New Delhi:
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has not sought any reimbursement for medical bills from the government, the Central Information Commission has said.
The case relates to an RTI application filed by one Naveen Kumar of Moradabad, who sought to know from the Prime Minister's Office, the National Advisory Council, Lok Sabha Secretariat and Ministries of External Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Statistics and Programme Implementation details of the medical expenditure incurred on the treatment of Mrs Gandhi.
During the hearing before Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra, the ministries held that no medical bills were submitted by the Congress president for reimbursement.
"From the submissions made by the respondents, it was quite clear that neither any reimbursement for any such expenditure had been claimed by the individual concerned from these public authorities nor any expenditure made in this regard. In other words, till now, the government has incurred no expenditure in this regard," Mr Mishra had held in his order dated May 3.
He also said that in any case, the expenditure made by individual on her treatment, in India or abroad, is private information and cannot be subject matter of an RTI application.
The matter assumes importance in the recent war of words between Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress on the expenditure incurred on the treatment of Mrs Gandhi.
Addressing a rally at Jesar on Monday, Mr Modi had targeted the Congress president by claiming that Rs 1880 crore has been spent from the public exchequer for her foreign trips. But later he offered to apologise if what he said was wrong.
The allegations were refuted by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who said the incident "establishes the motive of BJP and Narendra Modi, their malafide and cheap intentions. They want to politicise even an issue like health".