Will revealing information about the criteria behind B R Ambedkar's birthday being declared as a national holiday be detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of India? Yes, it seems so if one went by the reply of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in response to a RTI plea.

'There shall be no obligation to give any citizen information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, therefore, under the provisions of act, no information can be provided,' the DoPT said.

RTI activist Subash Chandra Agrawal had approached the DoPT with an application asking the department to disclose the details and rules in regard to declaring the Dalit icon's birthday on April 14 as a holiday since 1990.

The department also refused to show the file notings in this regard saying that as per guidelines they do not come under information, hence cannot be provided.

But, the explanation did not augur well for the officials, who received flak from the Central Information Commission, which termed DoPT's reply as 'flippant and vexatious'.

A three-member bench of CIC comprising chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and Information Commissioners Annapurna Dixit and M M Ansari summoned the DoPT officials so that the identity of 'errant official', who issued the orders, can be determined and further action can be initiated.

Taking an exception to the response given by the DoPT, the CIC said 'the reasons given for refusal, giving weight to departmental instructions over the law as ruled, in a series of decisions of this Commission unchallenged by the errant public authority through Writ in any court, the response can only be described as flippant and vexatious'.

Agrawal in his application has asked about the procedure (in detail and with copy of documents) followed to declare the birthdays of eminent personalities as holidays.

He also wanted to know from DoPT why the birthdays of leaders like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose or Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru were not declared as national holidays on the lines of birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi [Images] and Dr BR Ambedkar.

"Is it fair that birthdays of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi or Ambedkar are made holidays contrary to their noble ideas of hard work," he asked.

In its first reply, the department said that Ambdekar's birth day was not one of the regular annual holidays. 'However, since 1990 the day has been declared as a holiday for all Central Government administrative offices,' the reply said.

CIC said that question of validity or otherwise of declaring holidays in memory of eminent citizens was beyond its jurisdiction but found that it was a case of clear refusal to provide information.