Consider making attendance details of Tamil Nadu assembly members public, info panel suggests

Times of India‎‎: Chennai: Friday, September 23, 2016.

The Tamil Nadu State Information Commission (TNSIC) has suggested that the state legislative assembly must consider making the attendance details of MLAs publicly available. In in an order passed on August 24, it also suggested that the assembly secretariat must consider making suo motu disclosure of information.

The order was given after the public information officer (PIO) of the assembly had informed the TNSIC that these details could not be disclosed in a Right to Information (RTI) petition as it could involve breach of privilege.

The case, heard by K Ramanujan, chief information commissioner, was due to a second appeal filed by RTI activist Pavan Kumar Gandhi who desired to get the attendance details of all MLAs in the period May 2011-November 2015. Interestingly, TOI had reported how the same attendance details demanded in a similar RTI filed by portal OnlineRti.com had been rejected by the TNLA.

"...the honourable speaker has ordered not to divulge the attendance particulars. In case of violation of his orders, it may tend to attend the privileges of the House," the PIO submitted.

To buttress his suggestion of the suo motu disclosure by TNLA, Ramanujan has stated that both Houses of the Parliament now publish attendance figures on their websites. "But it is presumably for each legislative body to decide on the matter," he said.

In a previous hearing of the same case, Ramanujan noted how the same PIO had provided attendance details of MLAs from 2006 to 2011.

Ramanujan noted that Section 8(1)(c) of the RTI Act grants exemption to matters involving breach of privilege of the assembly. "The Rajya Sabha has in the past taken a stand that records relating to attendance of members may be supplied only to a court of law with the permission of the House if it is in session, or of the Chairman if the House is not in session," he noted in the order.

By making disclosure of such information with careful consideration of not violating the privilege of the House or its members, individual RTI petitions could be minimised, Ramanujan noted.