Times of India: Delhi: Thursday, January 04, 2018.
The
department of electronics and IT has refused to share information on the
minutes of meeting of the committee of experts on a data protection framework
for India. The information, said the department, was "not in the public
domain". The denial came on an RTI filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj of
the National Campaign for the People's Right to Information, who had asked for
a host of details, including the number of meetings that had taken place, names
of those who attended and the minutes of the meetings along with the agenda.
Bhardwaj,
along with other members of the NCPRI, has now written to the chairperson of
the committee, former Supreme Court Justice B N Srikrishna. "We are
writing to express our concern about the lack of information in the public domain
about the functioning of the committee of experts. Information about the dates
of the meetings, the agenda of the meetings and most importantly the minutes of
the meetings is not available in the public domain," says the letter to
Justice Srikrishna.
It adds,
"Transparency in the functioning of the committee will boost public trust
in this pre-legislative mechanism and will encourage people to engage with the
issue of data protection." Bhardwaj, who is one of the signatories to the
letter, said the denial of information by the department of electronics &
IT was a violation of the RTI Act.
"The
denial of information is in violation of the RTI Act as there is no legal
provision to deny information merely because it is not in the public domain.
Information can only be denied if it is exempt under section 8 or 9 of the RTI
law," pointed out Bhardwaj. The letter to Justice Srikrishna urges the
committee to "proactively disclose information" about the functioning
of the committee.
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