The Times of India: Pune: Thursday, April 12, 2012.
MUMBAI: The Madhav Gadgil report on the Western Ghats must be up on the website of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) by May 10, the Chief Information Commission (CIC) has ruled.
The ruling was given by Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi in an appeal filed by G Krishnan, a resident of Ernakulum district in Kerala.
The CIC has further directed the ministry that all reports of commissions, special committees or panels should be uploaded on its website within 30 days of receipt of these reports. However, if it feels that some part of the report is exempt under certain provisions of the RTI Act, the ministry should record and declare the reasons for exemptions and display the report within 45 days of receipt after severing the parts claimed to be exempt.
Krishnan, in September last year, had sought a summary of the report submitted to the Union ministry and also a report on the Athirapally hydro-electric project in Kerala. The report submitted in August last year was denied by the Public Information Officer (PIO) on the grounds that the MoEF was in the process of examining the report in consultation with six state governments of the Western Ghats region. The report, it said, was not final, rather a draft under consideration and thus not ready for disclosure.
When Krishnan filed a second appeal, the PIO denied information under section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act. This section details grounds under which information can be denied. He then filed an appeal before the Chief Information Commissioner. During the hearing, when the PIO was asked to explain the specific interest that would be affected by the disclosure, he said the economic and scientific interests of the state would be prejudicially affected.
In a written submission, the PIO explained that the methodology for demarcation of ecologically sensitive zones had been proposed in the report, which needed to be refined. Views from 11 ministries, the Planning Commission and six states were sought. Therefore, disclosure of information at this stage would lead to various proposals as per the recommendations of the report, which had not been finally accepted. This would affect the economic interests of the state. The PIO submitted that the MOEF intended to put the report in public domain once the policy was finalized.
The CIC contended that, since the panel had already submitted its report it could not be called a draft report. "There is no provision in the RTI Act which exempts from disclosure a report that has not been finalized or accepted by a public authority,'' stated the Commission, adding that, mere apprehension of proposals being put forth by citizens furthering the cause of environment protection cannot be said to prejudicially affect the scientific and economic interests of the country.
Reports, said the CIC, are instrumental in influencing policy decisions and it was only reasonable that citizens have a say in it. "If the government has reasons to ignore the reports, these should logically be put before the people, otherwise citizens would believe that the government's decisions are arbitrary or corrupt. Such a trust deficit would never be in the nation's interest,'' reads the ruling.
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