Hearing of writ petition against diluting RTI Act: Court directs State govt to reply in 2 weeks

Hearing of writ petition against diluting RTI Act:
Court directs State govt to reply in 2 weeks
[To read this in Hindi language, see below or click here]

Today the honorable Court directed the UP State government to reply within two weeks on why five subjects have been removed from the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

The court was hearing to a writ petition filed on behalf of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) by Magsaysay Awardee (2002) Dr Sandeep Pandey and noted RTI crusader Naveen Tiwari.

“We beg to differ with the decision of the State Government to still keep out five subjects from the purview of the RTI Act. The RTI Act, passed by the Parliament of this country in 2005, empowers the citizen of this country information on all matters except those covered under Section 8 of the Act” said Dr Sandeep Pandey, national Convener of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM).

“It is against the letter and spirit of the RTI Act to exclude information related to appointment of Governor, High Court Judges, Ministers, code of conduct for Ministers and letters written by Governor to the President from its purview. Section 24(4) of the Act doesn't apply as these matters are not related to intelligence or security organizations of the State” said Naveen Tiwari, who is a noted RTI activist advocating for transparency and accountability in governance.

The state government had issued the notification on 7 June 2009 stating that five subjects (appointment of Governor, High Court Judges, Ministers, code of conduct for Ministers and letters written by Governor to the President) will not come under the purview of the RTI Act, 2005. In an earlier order of Civil Aviation department on 25 March 2008, two units of Civil aviation department were also removed from the purview of RTI Act, 2005.

Both these notifications are prima facie illegal because Section 24 (4) of RTI Act, 2005, doesn’t apply to them. This section 24 (4) only applies to organizations and in both these notifications, the exempted entities are not organizations, said SN Shukla, retd IAS officer.

NAPM requests the UP State Government to retract any attempt to tamper with the RTI Act and restore the original scope of the Act.

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