Times
of India: Mumbai: Friday, 31 October 2014.
Every bit of
information related to inquiries and investigations made by the Anti-Corruption
Bureau (ACB), even in high-profile cases involving top officials and political
leaders, will remain in public domain.
Governor C
Vidyasagar Rao directed the government to withdraw the notification exempting
the ACB from provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act on Thursday, the
last day of President's rule in the state. An official attached to the Raj
Bhavan said a notification withdrawing President's rule will be issued on Friday,
coinciding with Devendra Fadnavis taking over as the state's first BJP chief
minister. The decision to exclude the ACB from the RTI Act was taken by the
Congress-NCP government led by Prithviraj Chavan on September 6, 2014.
"The
governor has taken the decision to withdraw the notification after considering
representations from various RTI activists and after taking cognizance of
newspaper reports which reflected the view that the notification was in
violation of the RTI Act," said a press release issued by the Raj Bhavan.
Interestingly, organisations such as the Intelligence Bureau (IB), CBI, and CID
do not come under the purview of RTI. Several RTI activists had written to the
governor, calling the order illegal. After Thursday's order, Rao received gushing
praise. "My salute to the governor! I think he and his advisors have shown
extraordinary wisdom," said former central information commissioner and
RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi.
Activists
Jitendra Ghadge, Ketan Tirodkar and Chetan Kothari were also happy with the
order. Activist Anil Galgali pointed out that the earlier government's order
was perhaps intended to keep under wraps information on the many corruption
cases filed against Congress and NCP leaders.