Economic Times: New Delhi: Sunday, August 19, 2018.
Responding to
a plea of a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Central
Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Centre to disclose rules for
remission of convicts and put all orders granting or denying remission to life
convicts in the public domain.
Hearing an
appeal by AG Perarivalan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination
case, Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad has asked the ministry of home
affairs to give an unambiguous reply to the two-year-old application filed
under the RTI Act.
Perarivalan
had filed an application under the RTI Act in January 2016 seeking copy of
remissions rules framed by the Centre after a 2015 Supreme Court constitutional
bench verdict, copy of directives sent to state governments refraining them
from granting any remission or release of convicts and copies of all orders of
Centre between 2010 and 2015 granting remission to prisoners throughout India.
The home
ministry had only told Perarivalan that there were 20 cases of remission
between 2010 and 2015, but, no other information was given as the ministry held
the view that the matter was sub-judice.
In his
12-page order, Azad has said, “The Commission directs the PIO to furnish an
unambiguous reply… The appellant is entitled to know whether any set of rules…
were framed by the central government… The Commission hastens to clarify that
the right of the appellant to know the rules governing him has no impact on any
judicial verdict.
Rather, it is
in larger public interest that such rules, if in existence, may be widely
circulated.
(Copy of Order)