Economic
Times: New Delhi: Friday, 13 March 2015.
The often
repeated demand of bringing the private sector under the purview of the Right
to Information (RTI) Act made an unusual comeback on Thursday at a CII
conference on industrial development in Delhi. In a session chaired by AAP's
industries minister Satyendar Jain, the special industries commissioner for the
Delhi government K Mahesh said he agrees with the demand that RTI be made
applicable to the corporates as their "effects on society" are strong
and "transparency" is needed.
"There
is so much of contribution (of the private sector to society), it affects the
lives of millions of people. Would it not be right to have the accountability
of the corporate sector through the right to information? We can work it out which
are the areas where we need to protect information in the interest of the
company and, in public interest, what should be revealed. These are my
suggestions to the CII, we truly appreciate your contribution, initiative and
dynamism," argued Mahesh.
The official
cited the example of foreign countries particularly South Africa where this has
been done and thus, he felt, can be implemented in India, too.