Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2015

Parliament must scrutinize rules under RTI Act made in states

Venkatesh Nayak, Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi, writes to Sanjay Kothari, IAS, Secretary to Government of India, Department of Personnel and Training on the need to resolve the constitutional conundrum regarding oversight of the unbridled exercise of powers of delegated legislation by appropriate governments and competent authorities under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act): *** I am writing to draw your attention to the unresolved issue of the unreasonable exercise of the power of delegated legislation under the RTI Act by delegatees and the absence of effective parliamentary/legislative oversight of the same. You are aware of the fact that some appropriate governments acting under Section 27 and several competent authorities including heads of State Legislatures and Chief Justices of High Courts acting under Section 28 have notified Rules for the implementation of the Act in their jurisdiction that ar

Why should income tax department decide, reject RTI pleas to Black Money SIT?

By Venkatesh Nayak*  In November 2015, the media reported extensively on a press conference addressed by one Mr. Herve Falciani former employee of HSBC who leaked information about account holders who had stashed away what is alleged to be “black money” in that Bank. Mr. Falciani participating in the presser via skype had alleged that the Government lacked seriousness in acting on the information that he provided to them regarding black money stashed abroad. He claimed to have written to the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Chairperson of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted in May 2014 to investigate unaccounted money stashed abroad by Indians. RTI application sent to the Black Money SIT As the bureaucrats in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) are extremely reluctant about sharing information about almost everything sought under The Right Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) I sent an RTI application along with the news clipping about the presser to the Public Information Office

Bureaucracy is stumbling block on road to accountable governance: Kerala SIC

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Supreme Court in a landmark judgement about transparency in the banking sector announced on December 16, expressed its concerns about the manner in which many Public Information Officers reject people’s requests for information under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act). Some Information Commissions are only adding their weight to the problems that are increasingly preventing the effective implementation of the Act, instead of resolving them. The latest instance of this trend is from Kerala. In January 2015, Ms. Shikha Chhibbar, Project Officer, Access to Justice Programme, CHRI, submitted an RTI application to the Home Department, Government of Kerala seeking information about action taken to comply with the Supreme Court’s directives in the matter of State of Gujarat vs Kishanbhal [(2014) 5 SCC 108] delivered in in January 2014. She paid the RTI application fee of Rs. 10 using an Indian Postal Order (IPO). The Public Information Officer (PIO) of th

RBI as watchdog should dedicate to disclosing info under RTI Act

Shailesh Gandhi By Venkatesh Nayak* In what will be described as a landmark judgement in the history of the implementation of The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act), the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has thrown out hook, line and sinker, the plea of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI – India’s Central Bank) not to disclose information to the general public about the action it takes against Banks against their alleged irregularities. In a batch matter of 11 cases transferred from the High Courts of Bombay and Delhi namely, Reserve Bank of India vs Jayantilal N. Mistry [Transferred Case (Civil) No. 707 of 2012 & other related matters] the Apex Court upheld the orders of Single Commissioner Benches of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing RBI to disclose a deal of information about action taken regarding irregularities of Banks, loan defaulters etc. It is noteworthy that ten of these cases were decided by the then Information Commissioner, Mr. Shailesh Gandhi and one b

Human rights covenants of United Nations: India has a long way to go

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ* On December 16th 1966, the United Nations General Assembly adopted two significant International Covenants on Human Rights: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These two Covenants, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), form the International Bill of Human Rights, setting out the civil, political, cultural, economic and social rights that are the birth right of all human beings. As we observe December 10th, the anniversary of the UDHR once again, the United Nations has invited everyone to enter a year-long campaign on the golden jubilee of the two international Covenants on Human Rights. The theme this year is ‘Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always!’ which aims to promote and raise awareness of the two Covenants. The campaign revolves around key rights and freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear which

Pay dues, go to school, build toilet to contest panchayat polls; what about MP, MLA?

By Venkatesh Nayak* On December 10, the Supreme Court of India pronounced its judgement on a challenge to a set of recent amendments to the law relating to Panchayati Raj institutions in the north Indian State of Haryana. In the matter of Rajbala & Ors vs State of Haryana & Ors . [Writ Petition (Civil) 671/2015] the Apex Court has held that the action of the State Legislature of Haryana of introducing three grounds for disqualifying voters from contesting elections to the Panchayats at all 3 levels (village, taluka/tehsil and district) on the grounds of: not possessing minimum educational qualifications; non-payment of electricity Bills or dues to cooperative banks; and (believe it or not) not having a toilet in their homes. The Apex Court has held that these disqualifications do not violate the right to equality guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution and they are not unreasonable or arbitrary. One of the judges on the Bench which delivered the judgement in a separate con

If Rajya Sabha amends whistleblowers Bill, activists may have to challenge it

\ By Venkatesh Nayak* The Rajya Sabha (Upper House in India’s Parliament) took up the Government’s proposed amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011 (WBP Act) for discussion on December 7, 2015. Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to both the treasury and opposition benches spoke on the contents and implications of the Bill. Any person who has a reasonably good understanding of what it takes to protect whistleblowers would have recognised that the MPs were simply not well prepared to discuss the serious implications of the retrograde amendments that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government is proposing. The discussion on the Bill already passed by the Lok Sabha (Lower House) could not be completed on December 7. Meanwhile, Hussain Dalwai, MP from the Indian National Congress (INC), has moved amendments to the Bill and there is also a major demand to refer the amendment proposals to a Select Committee of the House along with the Prevention of Corruption (Amendme

Bhopal was struck by two tragedies: Immediate and long term

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* When George Orwell wrote his celebrated novel ‘1984’, he perhaps never realised that India would actually be witnessing a series of events in 1984 which include the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the genocide on the Sikhs which followed and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. ‘The party leader’, in his novel, is euphemistically named ‘Big Brother’ who is only interested in power and like the party he represents, not in the good of others. ‘1984’ was written by Orwell in 1949 – 35 years ago. Today, as one looks back at the year 1984, one can say that Orwell could have conveniently situated his novel in Bhopal. Strangely, the adjective ‘Orwellian’ has become synonymous with official deception, secret surveillance and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian or authoritarian State. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy will be etched forever in living memory; despite every effort, by those across the ruling divide, to sweep things under the carpet, to stifle dissen