The Wire: New Delhi: Friday, 11 July 2025.
An RTI request to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was met with justifications including “breach of parliamentary privilege”.
Citing “breach of
parliamentary privilege” among other things, the National Commission for
Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has refused to share information on the impact of a
series of proposed infrastructure projects on the Great Nicobar Island, the
southernmost island in the Nicobar complex in the Andaman Sea, according to a
news report by the Press Trust of India.
The Indian government has proposed a controversial mega infrastructure project which includes a transshipment port, an international airport, a township and a power plant spanning more than 160 sq km on the Great Nicobar Island.
This means diverting around 130 sq km of forest inhabited by the Nicobarese, a Scheduled Tribe, and the Shompens, who are listed as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) and whose population is estimated to be only between 200 and 300.
The PTI filed a right to information (RTI) application on April 3 this year requesting minutes of all meetings held by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes since January 1, 2022. The application also asked for all communications exchanged with the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs concerning the Great Nicobar Island Development Project and its impact on Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like the Shompens.
Commission withhold information saying it can ‘endanger’ someone’s life or physical safety
However, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) disposed of the RTI application on June 9, more than two months after receiving it, asking the applicant to visit its website for copies of all minutes of meetings, the PTI reported.
The documents, meanwhile, are not available on the website: the Commission has not yet uploaded the minutes of meetings held since April 6, 2021, the PTI report alleged.
The PTI appealed to the rejection of information by the Commission. However, in its July 2 response to a first appeal, the Commission said the information sought by the appellant is exempted from disclosure under constitutional provisions and relevant clauses of the RTI Act.
The PTI reported that in the response to the appeal, Y.P. Yadav, Deputy Secretary and First Appellate Authority (FAA), cited Article 338A of the Constitution under which the Commission submits reports to the President and is empowered to investigate complaints relating to the rights of Scheduled Tribes.
Since the NCST is constitutionally mandated to report to the President and because these reports are tabled in Parliament, there is no obligation to disclose such information to the public under the RTI Act, the reply from the Commission in its first appeal said.
As per the PTI report, the Commission invoked several clauses of Section 8 of the RTI Act, which allow public authorities to withhold information in specific cases, including provisions that exempt disclosure if it would breach “parliamentary privilege”, “endanger” someone’s life or physical safety, “identify” a source of information or “impede” investigation or prosecution.
The order also referred to a Department of Personnel and Training clarification based on a 2009 Bombay High Court judgement, which said that public information authorities “cannot expect to communicate to the citizen the reason why a certain thing was done or not”.
Tribal rights experts told the PTI that the Commission’s refusal to share even the minutes of its meetings was “at odds with the spirit of transparency and public accountability”.
“The NCST is a constitutional body created to safeguard tribal interests. If it begins denying access to basic information about its functioning, the entire purpose of having such a body is undermined,” the PTI report quoted a tribal rights researcher, who did not wish to be named, as saying.
Project has drawn sharp criticism from conservationists, scientists and tribal rights advocates
The Commission’s refusal to provide information under the RTI Act comes at a time when the Great Nicobar Island project has drawn sharp criticism from conservationists, scientists and tribal rights advocates, who fear that it could displace indigenous communities and irreversibly damage ecologically sensitive zones.
In an interview with PTI in June, NCST member Asha Lakra said tribal communities in Great Nicobar are not opposed to development but lack sufficient information about the proposed mega infrastructure project on the island.
Lakra, who led an NCST team to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from June 5 to 7 to review the issues faced by the tribal communities, said the Commission held a detailed meeting with representatives of all tribal groups, including the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Nicobarese and Shompens.
However, Barnabas Manju, Chairman of the Little and Great Nicobar Tribal Council, had told PTI that the council was not invited to the meeting and came to know about it through the local media, the PTI reported. Incidentally, the council had written to the Union Environment Ministry and the Andaman and Nicobar administration in November 2022, withdrawing a no-objection certificate (NOC) it had issued in August that year for the denotification of 84.1 sq km of tribal reserve and the diversion of 130 sq km of forest for the project. It alleged that crucial information was withheld while seeking the NOC.
In April 2023, the NCST issued a notice to the Andaman and Nicobar administration seeking “facts and an action-taken report” on allegations that the mega project would violate the constitutional mandate and “adversely impact” the lives of local tribals.
An RTI request to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was met with justifications including “breach of parliamentary privilege”.
The Indian government has proposed a controversial mega infrastructure project which includes a transshipment port, an international airport, a township and a power plant spanning more than 160 sq km on the Great Nicobar Island.
This means diverting around 130 sq km of forest inhabited by the Nicobarese, a Scheduled Tribe, and the Shompens, who are listed as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) and whose population is estimated to be only between 200 and 300.
The PTI filed a right to information (RTI) application on April 3 this year requesting minutes of all meetings held by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes since January 1, 2022. The application also asked for all communications exchanged with the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs concerning the Great Nicobar Island Development Project and its impact on Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) like the Shompens.
Commission withhold information saying it can ‘endanger’ someone’s life or physical safety
However, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) disposed of the RTI application on June 9, more than two months after receiving it, asking the applicant to visit its website for copies of all minutes of meetings, the PTI reported.
The documents, meanwhile, are not available on the website: the Commission has not yet uploaded the minutes of meetings held since April 6, 2021, the PTI report alleged.
The PTI appealed to the rejection of information by the Commission. However, in its July 2 response to a first appeal, the Commission said the information sought by the appellant is exempted from disclosure under constitutional provisions and relevant clauses of the RTI Act.
The PTI reported that in the response to the appeal, Y.P. Yadav, Deputy Secretary and First Appellate Authority (FAA), cited Article 338A of the Constitution under which the Commission submits reports to the President and is empowered to investigate complaints relating to the rights of Scheduled Tribes.
Since the NCST is constitutionally mandated to report to the President and because these reports are tabled in Parliament, there is no obligation to disclose such information to the public under the RTI Act, the reply from the Commission in its first appeal said.
As per the PTI report, the Commission invoked several clauses of Section 8 of the RTI Act, which allow public authorities to withhold information in specific cases, including provisions that exempt disclosure if it would breach “parliamentary privilege”, “endanger” someone’s life or physical safety, “identify” a source of information or “impede” investigation or prosecution.
The order also referred to a Department of Personnel and Training clarification based on a 2009 Bombay High Court judgement, which said that public information authorities “cannot expect to communicate to the citizen the reason why a certain thing was done or not”.
Tribal rights experts told the PTI that the Commission’s refusal to share even the minutes of its meetings was “at odds with the spirit of transparency and public accountability”.
“The NCST is a constitutional body created to safeguard tribal interests. If it begins denying access to basic information about its functioning, the entire purpose of having such a body is undermined,” the PTI report quoted a tribal rights researcher, who did not wish to be named, as saying.
Project has drawn sharp criticism from conservationists, scientists and tribal rights advocates
The Commission’s refusal to provide information under the RTI Act comes at a time when the Great Nicobar Island project has drawn sharp criticism from conservationists, scientists and tribal rights advocates, who fear that it could displace indigenous communities and irreversibly damage ecologically sensitive zones.
In an interview with PTI in June, NCST member Asha Lakra said tribal communities in Great Nicobar are not opposed to development but lack sufficient information about the proposed mega infrastructure project on the island.
Lakra, who led an NCST team to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from June 5 to 7 to review the issues faced by the tribal communities, said the Commission held a detailed meeting with representatives of all tribal groups, including the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Nicobarese and Shompens.
However, Barnabas Manju, Chairman of the Little and Great Nicobar Tribal Council, had told PTI that the council was not invited to the meeting and came to know about it through the local media, the PTI reported. Incidentally, the council had written to the Union Environment Ministry and the Andaman and Nicobar administration in November 2022, withdrawing a no-objection certificate (NOC) it had issued in August that year for the denotification of 84.1 sq km of tribal reserve and the diversion of 130 sq km of forest for the project. It alleged that crucial information was withheld while seeking the NOC.
In April 2023, the NCST issued a notice to the Andaman and Nicobar administration seeking “facts and an action-taken report” on allegations that the mega project would violate the constitutional mandate and “adversely impact” the lives of local tribals.
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