Gujarat government's company refuses to reply to RTI

Times of India‎: Ahmedabad: Friday, January 20, 2017.

A government of Gujarat undertaking, which has earlier been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), now claims before the Gujarat information commission that it is not a public authority. It also claims that it is not liable to reply to queries under the RTI Act.

Gujarat Gas Limited (GGL), which was previously called GSPC Distribution Networks Limited, recently wrote to the state information commission seeking exemption under section 2(h) of the RTI Act, claiming that it is a company and is exempted from the Act.

The commission over The commission overruled GGL's argument and ordered it to provide replies to all RTIs. This controversy arose when RTI applicant G M Chauhan sought information from GGL regarding its finances and account books after amalgamation was carried out following the high court's order in 2015. The amalgamation involved GSPC Gas Compa ny Ltd., Gujarat Gas Company Ltd., Gujarat Gas Financial Services Ltd.and Gujarat Gas Trading Co. Ltd.with GSPC Distribution Networks Ltd.

"GGL has IAS officers on its board of directors, including the present chief secretary J N Singh, who draws his salary from government coffers. GSPC has also been audited by the CAG as government has a 90% stake in the company . How then can GGL say it's not a a public company ," says Chauhan.

This is not the first instance that the Gujarat government's gas majors have been denied information.On January 7, 2017, the state informa tion commission in the case of RTI applicant Lakshman Nai ordered that GSPC Ltd is a public authority . GSPC was incorporated in 1979 as Gujarat State Petrochemicals Corporation Limited. In this, Gujarat government held 90% of the company's equity capital. The company was re-incorporated in 1994 as Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited. As on 31March, 31, 2015, before the amalga mation, GSPC Ltd held rights in 27 oil and natural gas blocks in the co untry , 16 of which were commercial ly producing while 11 were in the ex ploration and development stage.

The largest chunk of GSPC's invest ments are in exploration and pro duction of oil and gas in the KG basin of the Bay of Bengal.