Thiruvananthapuram, July 3, 2012(TNN):The Central Information Commission has asked the Union government to ensure that cabinet notes on all proposals for new bills are made public.
The order, which will be binding on the Centre and all state governments, may provide information on the differing opinions aired by bureaucrats and ministers during the framing of a proposed bill.
The central information commissioner (CIC), Shailesh Gandhi, was passing an order on a Right to information (RTI) appeal against Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which denied information on cabinet notes related to nuclear safety regulatory authority bill, 2011.
The CIC said there was a larger public interest in disclosing cabinet notes on any new bill in Parliament.
“It is obvious that if citizens knew the contents of the cabinet note based on which Parliament proposed to enact a law, it would lead to better and meaningful democracy and enactments of laws which would indeed serve people’s needs,” Gandhi said. The commission then directed DAE to display the cabinet note on its website before July 20.
The DAE had earlier denied a photocopy of the cabinet note prepared by the DAE seeking approval of the Union cabinet for introducing the nuclear safety regulatory authority bill, 2011, to Venkatash Nayak, an RTI applicant.
The public information officer (PIO) of DAE denied the information under section 8 (1) of RTI Act maintaining that the matter is incomplete till the bill is enacted, duly gazetted, and a notification issued. Naik’s first appeal, stating that that the bill was complete as the date of the bill clearly mentions that it was already tabled in the Parliament, was also rejected forcing him to approach the CIC straight.
CIC Shailesh Gandhi said once the decision is taken by the cabinet to table the bill in Parliament, the matter is complete as far as the cabinet is concerned. The exemption claimed by the PIO under section 8 of the RTI act cannot be upheld.
“The PIO has not given any valid reason to show that any harm could come to any protected interest,” the CIC said. “All cabinet notes related to proposals for bills should be tabled in the Parliament and displayed on the website of the department within seven days of tabling the bill in the Parliament,” the CIC order said. The Central Information Commission has asked the Union government to ensure that cabinet notes on all proposals for new bills are made public.
The order, which will be binding on the Centre and all state governments, may provide information on the differing opinions aired by bureaucrats and ministers during the framing of a proposed bill.
source : http://tkbsen.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment