Ministers’ attendance not open to all
The Cabinet secretariat seems to apply different rules for disclosures made under Right to Information to applicants. The Cabinet secretariat, which refused to make public details of attendance records of ministers during Cabinet meetings a few months ago to one applicant claiming they are beyond the purview of transparency law, has now given them to another RTI applicant.
“The information is denied in terms of section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act as this is part of deliberations of the Cabinet,” Central public information officer Meera Ranjan Tshering said in her reply to applicant Abhishek Shukla in March this year when he asked for attendance records of ministers during Cabinet meetings.
Her point was upheld by joint secretary Rajive Kumar while deciding the first appeal against Ms Tshering’s reply. In his decision dated May 20, 2010, he said these being cabinet deliberations cannot be shared.
A second appeal has been filed before the Central Information Commission and a decision is awaited.
Surprisingly, the Cabinet secretariat has now provided updated attendance records of the Cabinet ministers to another RTI activist with all the details of attendance of ministers during Cabinet meetings.
A senior information commissioner at Central Information Commission said, “Now it has been established that information was not exempt from disclosure. It was was denied to an applicant citing a non-applicable clause. In such cases complaint can be filed and demand for penalty on the public authority can be made.”
Attempts to contact Rajive Kumar failed as his office said he was on leave. Efforts to reach CPIO Tshering also failed.
The information now revealed shows Union chemicals minister M.K. Alagiri and railway minister Mamata Banerjee skipped the Cabinet meetings most while home minister P. Chidambaram was among the most regular.
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