The Hindu: THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Saturday,
January 21, 2017.
Kerala Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said discretion should be used in exercising the
provisions of the Right to Information Act, as certain information ought to
remain confidential.
Not all
Cabinet decisions, for instance, can be disclosed to the public before their
implementation.
If revealed
beforehand, some measures might become ineffective, Mr. Vijayan said.
Caution
against misuse
Mr. Vijayan
was speaking after inaugurating the State Information Commission’s one-day
seminar on the Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005.
He stressed
the need to identify persons who misused legislation for their interests.
An efficient
system for relaying information to the public was important to achieve the goal
of establishing a transparent and corruption-free society, he said.
Through the
RTI, citizens could complement the government’s efforts to clean up the
administration. Therefore, measures to strengthen the reach of the Act among
the public were being considered, Mr. Vijayan said.
These
included introducing details about the Act in the school curriculum and
creating software that links other departments with the Information Commission.
‘Vacancies
will be filled’
The
government would also take steps to fill the vacancy of five commissioners in
the State Information Commission, the Chief Minister said.
Chief
Information Commissioner (CIC) Vinson M. Paul; V.S. Sivakumar, MLA; Sheela Thomas,
Secretary, General Administration; and former CIC M.N. Gunavardhanan spoke on
the occasion.
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