Outlook India: New Delhi: Tuesday, August 18, 2020.
The Delhi High Court has asked the
Centre to place before it the information it has with regard to release and
utilisation of funds under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development
Scheme (MPLADS).
The court issued the direction while
hearing the Centre''s two separate pleas against two Central Information
Commission (CIC) orders directing the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation to disclose on its website the "MP-wise, constituency-wise
and work-wise details, with names of beneficiaries" of works undertaken
under the MPLAD scheme.
Justice Navin Chawla directed the
ministry to file an affidavit disclosing the information, and listed the matter
for further hearing on September 24.
The order on August 14 came after the
ministry said it already discloses on its website the data related to the
release and utilisation of funds under MPLADS.
The court, however, said it wants to
see the information the ministry collects and maintains and asked it to file an
affidavit.
The ministry, in its pleas filed
through central government counsel (senior panel) Rahul Sharma and advocate C K
Bhatt, has contended that the CIC acted beyond the power and jurisdiction it
has under the Right to Information Act.
CIC in its September 16, 2018 and
October 16, 2018 orders, in two separate cases under the RTI Act, had directed
the ministry to collect and disclose MP-wise, constituency-wise and work-wise
details of all the work carried out under the scheme.
It had also directed the ministry to
ensure that this information was voluntarily disclosed by each MP in accordance
with the RTI Act.
Besides, the CIC had recommended to
the ministry to take steps to prevent the alleged ''abuse'' of MPLADS funds by
the MPs by accumulating the money released each year of their five year term,
and spending it only in the final year for political gains.
The ministry, in its appeal, has
contended that the CIC acted beyond its powers and jurisdiction as maintaining
records of information collected from various district authorities and MPs,
with regard to MPLADS fund utilisation, was not covered under the provisions of
the RTI Act.