Saturday, July 16, 2016

Oppn. throws a punch at govt. : SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Hindu‎‎‎: Thiruvananthapuram: Saturday, July 16, 2016.
Flays move to challenge info panel chief’s order on Cabinet decisions.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has termed as mysterious, the government decision to go on appeal against the Chief Information Commissioner’s (CIC) order to publicise the State Cabinet decisions.
Mr. Chennithala told reporters here on Friday that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government which assumed office with the claim of making administration transparent had gone back on its promise and the decision had been made with the intention to hide Cabinet decision from the people.
He accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of conducting himself like a despot. The decision amounted to challenging the spirit of the Right to Information Act and was condemnable, he said.
Posting on website
Chief Information Commissioner Vinson M. Paul had clearly said that Cabinet decisions should be posted on the website in 48 hours. Decision on certain files would be made only in consultation with various departments. In that case, the government need publish the details only after issuing the final order. The previous government had issued two circulars for posting Cabinet decision on the government website. Still it was accused of concealing details from the public.
The new government had formed a Cabinet subcommittee for reviewing 782 decisions made at the fag end of the previous government’s tenure. Except for 32 files, the committee could not find anything wrong in rest of the files. It could not make a decision in the 32 files even after 45 days. All such moves were aimed at defaming the United Democratic Front (UDF) government and creating a smokescreen, he said.
Referring to an earlier decision to exclude `T’ branch of the Vigilance from the purview of RTI Act, Mr. Chennithala said the decision was made to conserve the secrecy of surprise checks, confidential inquiries, and protect the life of those sharing crucial information.
On finding that former Chief Ministers, Ministers and such others too were brought within the ambit of this category and when it came for criticism, a Cabinet meeting on March 22, had reverted the decision. Still, the previous government was put on the dock for including them, he said. He demanded that the government repeal the decision to go on appeal against the CIC order.