Uttarakhand excludes Vigilance Dept from RTI purview, Opposition and experts call move regressive
Govt justifies the move by saying that there is confidential information with the vigilance department which should not be revealed to the public
The BJP-led Uttarakhand government has decided to exclude the state vigilance department from the purview of Right To Information (RTI) Act in its Cabinet meeting held on Friday. The move has drawn sharp criticism from Opposition Congress and experts who have termed the move “regressive and an attempt to hide corruption”.
The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
Talking about the decision, minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said, “The government has decided to exclude the state vigilance department from RTI’s purview because there is confidential information with it which should not be revealed to the public.”
He, however, added, “Under the move, information will be shared regarding corruption in the department but if anyone seeks information about any probe, trapping of accused or filing of charge sheet in any case by the vigilance department, that it won’t be shared.”
The Vigilance Bureau investigates cases related to corruption against public servants and the Cabinet decision has blocked seeking of any information from the commission. The RTI laws clearly state that information related to cases of corruption has to be shared in the larger public interest.
The Opposition Congress and RTI experts have criticised the decision. Haldwani-based RTI activist Hemant Gauniya, who has been actively filing RTI applications to seek information from various government departments to expose corruption, termed the move as an attempt to ‘cover-up corruption.’
He said, “Every department should be covered under the RTI which is a law enacted by the government itself to provide information to public. Then why is the state government excluding vigilance department from its purview? The public should know everything about how the government is functioning.”
“The move will surely decrease the importance of RTI Act and stop exposure of corruption in the government departments which should not happen,” said Gauniya.
Legal experts have called the decision ‘regressive’. Kartikeya Gupta, senior advocate in Uttarakhand high court, Nainital said, “There is a democracy in the country where nothing should be hidden from the public.”
“This is not the British era where information will not be shared with the public citing the Official Secrets Act enacted in 1923. The RTI Act aims to bring more transparency in the governance and reduce corruption. But this move seems to be regressive on the government’s part which is condemnable,” said Gupta.
The Congress termed the move as contrary to the government’s claim of zero tolerance to corruption. “On the one hand, CM Rawat and his government claims that they have zero-tolerance towards corruption and on the other, they are excluding vigilance department from RTI’s ambit. This just proves the difference between its words and actions,” said Pritam Singh, Congress state president.
Singh said, “RTI was a weapon given to the people to make governance more transparent and corruption free, but the government seems to weaken it.”
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