Times of India: Mumbai: Thursday, December 07, 2017.
Former
central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has lashed out at the
Maharashtra government for trying to frame guidelines on information that may
be provided to elected representatives.
TOI had
reported on Wednesday that the general administration department had set up a
three-member committee headed by additional chief secretary (home) Sudhir
Srivastava to frame guidelines on whether a copy of file notings or
confidential notes can be given to elected representatives. "This will
obviously apply to citizens as well seeking information under the Right to Information
Act (RTI)," he said.
Gandhi said
it is a settled matter by now that file notings are to be disclosed under RTI,
and the move to appoint a committee to frame guidelines for it appears to go
counter to the established legal position. "No secretary or government
functionary has any jurisdiction to decide on constricting a law made by
Parliament. In 2006, the Central Information Commission had given an order to
disclose file notings. This has been repeated in hundreds of decisions of
courts and the commission," he said.
Gandhi said
the government had not filled three vacancies for information commissioners in
the state, effectively making the RTI dysfunctional.
Awaaz
Foundation convenor Sumaira Abdulali said there was no need to define what was
already defined. "The RTI Act has been in force for several years and has
been working well. The fact that the government is seeking to redefine what is
already there means restrictions are going to be placed and the RTI Act is
being sought to be diluted. The more free is the flow of information, the
better it is for governance," she said.
RTI activist
Bhaskar Prabhu said the government does not want transparency in governance and
hence the committee. "BJP leaders such as Kirit Somaiya and Eknath Khadse
used the RTI. The RTI Act has been passed by Parliament," he said.
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