Times of India: Ahmedabad: Saturday, 11 March 2023.
The Gujarat high court on Friday granted the city police commissioner four weeks to publish on his office's website rules that govern the grant or denial of permission to people to assemble and protest in public places. Such public protests are proscribed in the city with the perpetual imposition of Section 144 of the CrPC.
The HC had on January 17 directed the police commissionerate to publish and make available on its website the text of "all the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharge of its functions".
More than six weeks have passed, but there has been no progress. This led the petitioner, Swati Goswami, to move the HC again. Her advocate, Bandish Soparkar, requested the court for a time limit to comply with the directions. Justice Biren Vaishnav said the directions must be followed within four weeks of receipt of a copy of the order.
In this case, a CAA-NRC protester, Goswami, asked the police commissioner under which rules she had been denied permission to hold a protest in December 2019. She wanted to know the rules framed under Section 33 (1)(O) of the Gujarat Police Act through RTI provisions. The police refused to divulge the information, saying the decision-making process involves the Special Branch, which is exempt from RTI obligations.
On the refusal of information, Goswami knocked at the HC's doors, asserting that publication of rules and laws on the police website falls under proactive disclosure. Without knowing the rules, the petitioner did not know what to challenge before court.
The state government defended its withholding of information from the website and the people on the grounds that the Special Branch is involved in the process and provisions of the RTI Act would not apply.
The Gujarat high court on Friday granted the city police commissioner four weeks to publish on his office's website rules that govern the grant or denial of permission to people to assemble and protest in public places. Such public protests are proscribed in the city with the perpetual imposition of Section 144 of the CrPC.
The HC had on January 17 directed the police commissionerate to publish and make available on its website the text of "all the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records held by it or under its control or used by its employees for discharge of its functions".
More than six weeks have passed, but there has been no progress. This led the petitioner, Swati Goswami, to move the HC again. Her advocate, Bandish Soparkar, requested the court for a time limit to comply with the directions. Justice Biren Vaishnav said the directions must be followed within four weeks of receipt of a copy of the order.
In this case, a CAA-NRC protester, Goswami, asked the police commissioner under which rules she had been denied permission to hold a protest in December 2019. She wanted to know the rules framed under Section 33 (1)(O) of the Gujarat Police Act through RTI provisions. The police refused to divulge the information, saying the decision-making process involves the Special Branch, which is exempt from RTI obligations.
On the refusal of information, Goswami knocked at the HC's doors, asserting that publication of rules and laws on the police website falls under proactive disclosure. Without knowing the rules, the petitioner did not know what to challenge before court.
The state government defended its withholding of information from the website and the people on the grounds that the Special Branch is involved in the process and provisions of the RTI Act would not apply.
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