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Showing posts from May, 2016

RTI interventions question freedom of MPs to act against their party’s diktat

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to a recent news report published by a prominent national daily , some newly elected MLAs in West Bengal were being required by their leaders to sign an oath of allegiance to their political party. Whether this measure has been authorised by the party’s apex leadership or is more of a localised show of fealty to the leadership remains to be proved. However, two RTI interventions made recently, with the Secretariats of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha shows that MPs never cast their vote in Parliament against the “whip” or the diktat of their respective political parties since May 2009 (until March 2016). The four RTI applications and responses received are attached. Freedom of action in Parliament Article 105(2) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and action for every MP on the floor of the Houses of Parliament. No MP can be sued in a court of law for anything said or done on the floor of the House when Parliament is in session. This provisi

Death of manhole workers: Gujarat govt must identify, compensate Rs 10 lakh

By Jitendra Rathod* Manual scavenging is inhumane practice of manually removing/ handling/ cleaning human excreta and cleaning drainage without providing any safety measures to sweepers. To eradicate this inhumane practice, Parliament has enacted the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and the Act came into force on 6th December, 2013 across in India. Meanwhile, the honorable Supreme Court of India has given landmark judgment on 27th March 2014 in this regard. The court has directed the all state governments that: Identify the families of all persons who have died in sewerage work (manholes, septic tanks) since 1993 and award compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs for each such death to the family members depending on them. Sewerage deaths- entering sewer line without safety gears should be made a crime even in emergency situations. For such death, compensation of Rs. 10 lakhs should be given to the family of the deceased. All the state governments a

Insightful Delhi High Court order contributes to transparency established by RTI Act

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Delhi High Court, in a recent judgement has upheld an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Legislative Department, Government of India to upload on the official website all laws enacted by Parliament as amended from time to time. It has also upheld the CIC’s direction to the Government to examine that the functionality of the official email addresses of officers of the Department. Background to the RTI intervention The Respondent in the case decided by the Delhi High Court was a law student at the National Law School of India, University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. As he could not find the complete version of a law passed by Parliament with all the latest amendments online, he submitted an RTI application to the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Legislative Department. The email bounced back. He does not appear to have received adequate redress from the First Appellate Authority. So he approached the CIC. Disposing of the cas

Praveen Rashtrapal was different, he always stood for rights of marginalized

By Martin Macwan* Praveen Rashtrapal is no more. A short political career of his life as a member of both the upper and lower house of the Parliament was remarkable. The media has not taken much notice of him on the occasion of his demise. Every person in public life has some controversy and Praveenbhai had them too when he confronted sitting Judge of the Gujarat High Court, Justice Pardiwala for his observations on the ‘Reservation’ as also Hardik Patel on ‘Reservation’ for Patidars by suggesting ‘inter-caste marriages’ between Patidar and Dalits as a floor test for equality. Personally I have different views on both the matters. However, my friendship with Praveen Rashtrapal has gone a long way and I have always admired him for his fearlessness and uprightness. During the UN world conference against Racism, even though when the National Congress Party to which be belonged to, was against the inclusion of ‘Caste’ on the final agenda of the UN conference, Praveen Rashtrapal stood in th

Fig-leaf of good intentions, allowing systematic violations by states to be ignored

By Fr Cedric Prakash sj* The World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), May 23rd & 24th 2016, in Istanbul, Turkey is finally underway! The two-day event convened by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is focused around his call that humanity-people’s safety, dignity and the right to thrive-be placed at the heart of global decision-making. Three major goals have been envisaged for the Summit: a) to re-inspire and reinvigorate a commitment to humanity and to the universality of humanitarian principles b) to initiate a set of concrete actions and commitments aimed at enabling countries and communities to better prepare for and respond to crises, and be resilient to shocks c) to share best practices which can help save lives around the world, put affected people at the centre of humanitarian action, and alleviate suffering In order to deliver for humanity, stakeholders must act immediately on five core responsibilities: i. to prevent and end conflict ii. to respect rules of war iii. to leave no

Cabinet Secretariat can't deny access to agenda of Union Cabinet after meeting

By Venkatesh Nayak* In a decision issued recently in one of my cases, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that under The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act), the Cabinet Secretariat (Cab. Sectt.) cannot deny access to the items on the agenda placed before the Union Cabinet after a meeting is over. The CIC has also advised the Cab. Sectt. to put in place a mechanism to monitor Departments and Ministries for their compliance with the requirement of sending monthly reports of work done by them to the Cab. Sectt. The CIC also said that is advisable for the Ministries and Departments to upload the “unclassified portions” of their monthly reports to Cab. Sectt. on their respective websites. A copy of the CIC’s order along with the RTI docs and related documents are accessible on CHRI’s website . Background to the RTI case regarding Cabinet agenda items Readers may recollect, since 2008-09 I have been using RTI to seek disclosure of the agenda items discussed by the Union