The Indian Express: Chandigarh: Sunday, July 30, 2017.
Haryana’s
Chief Information Commissioner Yash Pal Singal has recommended to the State
Legislative Assembly Speaker to take appropriate decision on making public the
lawmakers’ attendance records, after a Right to Information (RTI) request was
declined by the Assembly’s information officer saying the revelation would be
breach of privilege of the House.
Using his
powers under Section 25 (5) of the RTI Act, Singal, in his judgment on an
appeal filed by the Gurgoan-based RTI activist Harinder Dhingra, has asked the
Assembly’s Public Information Officer (PIO) to reconsider its decision, while
observing that the attendance of even the members of Parliament and many State
legislatures were already in public domain. The Commission, however, has not
passed any direction or ordered the Assembly to provide the information, saying
it is up to the Speaker and the House to decide whether there is a question of
privilege in a matter.
Dhingra, in
his RTI application in February, had sought information on the number of
working days in the then Assembly session, number of times the Assembly was
adjourned, the attendance record of the sitting Assembly members and the
expenditure on running the legislature since the formation of new government in
2014.
The first
appellate authority and deputy secretary, Dr Purushottam Dutt, during the
hearing of the case, told the Commission that the information on attendance of
members was denied after the Speaker gave orders for its non-disclosure of the
information while referring to Rule 118 of Procedure and Conduct of Business in
the Assembly.
The
Commission in its orders has also directed the Assembly authorities to provide
the information on total budget and total expenditure for the year 2014-15 to
2016-17 to the RTI applicant within a month. The information on the expenditure
had been denied saying no specific information was sought by the applicant.
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