Hindustan Times: Dehradun: Sunday,
06 September 2020.
The
BJP-led Uttarakhand government has decided to exclude the state vigilance
department from the purview of Right To Information (RTI) Act in its Cabinet
meeting held on Friday. The move has drawn sharp criticism from Opposition
Congress and experts who have termed the move “regressive and an attempt to
hide corruption”.
The
decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Trivendra
Singh Rawat.
Talking
about the decision, minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said,
“The government has decided to exclude the state vigilance department from
RTI’s purview because there is confidential information with it which should
not be revealed to the public.”
He,
however, added, “Under the move, information will be shared regarding
corruption in the department but if anyone seeks information about any probe,
trapping of accused or filing of charge sheet in any case by the vigilance
department, that it won’t be shared.”
The
Vigilance Bureau investigates cases related to corruption against public
servants and the Cabinet decision has blocked seeking of any information from
the commission. The RTI laws clearly state that information related to cases of
corruption has to be shared in the larger public interest.
The
Opposition Congress and RTI experts have criticised the decision.
Haldwani-based RTI activist Hemant Gauniya, who has been actively filing RTI
applications to seek information from various government departments to expose
corruption, termed the move as an attempt to ‘cover-up corruption.’
He said,
“Every department should be covered under the RTI which is a law enacted by the
government itself to provide information to public. Then why is the state
government excluding vigilance department from its purview? The public should
know everything about how the government is functioning.”
“The
move will surely decrease the importance of RTI Act and stop exposure of
corruption in the government departments which should not happen,” said Gauniya.
Legal
experts have called the decision ‘regressive’. Kartikeya Gupta, senior advocate
in Uttarakhand high court, Nainital said, “There is a democracy in the country
where nothing should be hidden from the public.”
“This is
not the British era where information will not be shared with the public citing
the Official Secrets Act enacted in 1923. The RTI Act aims to bring more
transparency in the governance and reduce corruption. But this move seems to be
regressive on the government’s part which is condemnable,” said Gupta.
The
Congress termed the move as contrary to the government’s claim of zero
tolerance to corruption. “On the one hand, CM Rawat and his government claims
that they have zero-tolerance towards corruption and on the other, they are
excluding vigilance department from RTI’s ambit. This just proves the
difference between its words and actions,” said Pritam Singh, Congress state
president.
Singh
said, “RTI was a weapon given to the people to make governance more transparent
and corruption free, but the government seems to weaken it.”
.JPG)
.JPG)
