Tracking missing files gets easier, CIC too can do needful

There can be a new independent entrant to track missing coal files — transparency watchdog, the Central Information Commission (CIC).

Updated on: Sep 23, 2013, 02:32:00 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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There can be a new independent entrant to track missing coal files — transparency watchdog, the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The Delhi High Court has upheld the powers of the commission to conduct an inquiry by itself or ask the concerned department to track the missing files under the Right To Information Act. Or, fix the responsibility of the officers responsible for the files that go missing.

The order can have a wider ramifications in light of the government claiming files on controversial issues often going missing including in the recent coal scam.

“It is not uncommon in the government departments to evade disclosure of the information taking the standard plea that the information sought by the applicant was not available,” the court said, while describing the RTI Act as a “progressive” legislation with an intent to give maximum possible information to people with certain safeguards and exemptions.

The court said that in cases where the information sought could not be traced, appropriate departmental action should be taken against the officials responsible and accountability should be fixed. “Unless such a course is adopted, it would be possible for any department to deny information which otherwise is not exempted from disclosure,” the court said.

The court made these observations while dismissing the tourism ministry’s plea against the CIC order asking the ministry to conduct an inquiry into missing files.

The ministry had gone to the High Court claiming that the CIC had no powers under the RTI Act to direct the government to conduct an inquiry.

Rejecting the claim, the court said since the commission has powers to direct disclosure of information it would also have jurisdiction to direct an inquiry into the matter wherever the public information officer claims that the file was untraceable.

“Even in a case where the information officer claims that the information was never available with the government the commission can direct an officer in the department to look into the matter again,” the court said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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