Wajahat Habibullah:Official Secrets Act and RTI are contradictory

[sidmis]

NEW DELHI: Central and state information commissions have sought more powers, demanding that their proceedings be considered as equivalent to "judicial proceedings" to deter authorities from withholding information and making their orders enforceable.

Speaking on the sidelines of a day-long information commissioners' conference here on Wednesday, CIC Wajahat Habibullah also pointed out the "clear contradiction" between the Official Secrets Act and the RTI. While OSA, he said, was designed by the British government to protect its rule over India, RTI fulfiled the purpose of a democratically elected government in which the people, in principle at least, are the rulers.

Habibullah also wanted the government to appoint more commissioners to ease the workload. In the past two years, every information commissioner was handling 125-130 cases per month and the entire commission was disposing of about 700 cases per month.

Though not satisfied with this strike rate, Habibullah said information technology and standard procedures had to be utilised to ensure more people, especially those in rural areas, benefited from RTI.

18 Oct 2007, 0210 hrs IST,TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Official_Secrets_Act_and_RTI_are_contradictory_Hab ibullah/articleshow/2468759.cms

[Anuj Dhar]

One reason Wajahat saab said so is his experience while dealing Subhas Bose death related cases that my friends and I are contesting before the commission. The following is taken from the decision of the commission (full bench):

Earlier, a public authority could bar any information from disclosure under the Official Secrets Act, simply by classifying the information as secret or top-secret. That option has been effectively excluded by the RTI Act. Any decision to withhold information from public access is to be justified rationally, under the provisions of the Act. The decision to bar an information from disclosure can no more be arbitrary. It will need to pass the Commission's scrutiny.

[sngupta]

RTI fulfiled the purpose of a democratically elected government in which the people, in principle at least, are the rulers. This views of Mr Habibullah the Chief Information Commissioner is apreciable and we may support the views taken.

[Anuj Dhar]

This views are laudable indeed but do the ppl of this country have the maturity to understand that transparency and openness at the highest level over the issues of historical and contemporary importance will help country develop? Or they are still enthralled by a tacky bollywood movies where the hero is a CBI inspector taking on international terror thugs?

[sngupta]

Mr Anuj Dhar,
There may be some chances for misuse of open ness but the economic activity must be transparent. Actually money was developed to facilitate the transactions and now a days the thing developed to facilitate the human being have been turned up as our big problem. In our country there may be lacs of person made money by misusing Govt post and even created hurdle to live life to others.