Economic Times: New Delhi: Saturday,
May 14, 2016.
The Central
Information Commission (CIC) has ruled Cabinet Secretariat cannot deny access
to items on the agenda of the Cabinet after the meeting is over under Right to
Information Act.
In a
pro-disclosure order, chief information commissioner R K Mathur has directed
Cabinet Secretariat to disclose all agenda items under the RTI Act once the
meetings are over.
In a ruling
on an RTI plea by RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative (CHRI), the CIC has also advised the Cabinet Secretariat to
"put in place" a mechanism to monitor departments and ministries for
their compliance with the requirement of sending monthly reports of work done
by them to it. The order further says that it is "advisable" for
ministries and departments to upload the "unclassified portions" of
their monthly reports to Cabinet Secretariat on their respective websites.Nayak
had filed an RTI application with Cabinet Secretariat seeking details of
Cabinet agenda between August 2014 and December 2014.
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