The
Hindu: New Delhi: Wednesday, 25 November 2015.
Right to
Information (RTI) activists who had written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
regarding what they claimed was a 'lack of transparency and public
consultation' in relation to the proposed Delhi Lokpal Bill and the Service
Delivery Amendment Bill are 'deeply disappointed' at the response they
received.
Mr.
Kejriwal's office, the group announced on Tuesday, responded to their queries
justifying the purported lack of consultation and transparency stating that the
'fundamental suggestions from the public on these crucial bills were already
known, the text of the proposed legislations on above Bills has not been put in
public domain for further consultations.'
On November
21, activists including Anjali Bhardwaj, Shailesh Gandhi, Aruna Roy, Prashant
Bhushan, Nikhil Dey and Maja Daruwala among others wrote to Mr. Kejriwal
stating that while they welcomed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's move to
bring the two crucial legislations to the Delhi Assembly for consideration and
passage they were 'deeply concerned to note that the AAP government has not
made public the text of either of these two Bills.'
In reply,
Rajeev Gupta, OSD to Mr. Kejriwal, said he had been directed to convey to them
on his behalf that 'the Lokpal Bill and the Service Delivery Amendment Bill
have been in discussion for last many years and the fundamental suggestions
from the public on these crucial Bills were already known, the text of the
proposed legislations on above Bills has not been put in public domain for
further consultations.'
In future,
however, Mr. Gupta added that all matters pertaining to the Bills introduced in
the Delhi Assembly would be put in the public domain and suggestions from the
public would be invited 'in proper participatory process.'
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