RTI to expose babus protected by State
Hyderabad, Oct. 1: Chief Information Commissioner C.D. Arha has directed the State government to furnish names of IAS officers against whom it did not take action despite Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) recommendations. Responding to senior IAS officer Md. Shafiquzzaman�s complaint under the Right to Information Act, Mr Arha asked the general administration department (GAD) to submit the list of the officers within 30 days.
The order has sent shock waves among IAS officials who were battered by the revelations of former vigilance commissioner R.C. Samal. The GAD had earlier rejected a request of Mr Shafiquzzaman, managing director of the State Warehousing Corporation, on the ground that the information was exempted under section 8(1)(h) and (j) of the
RTI Act. The GAD termed the information as �classified�.
Taking strong objection to the GAD contention, Mr Shafiquzzaman appealed to the Chief Information Commissioner and argued that the
RTI Act was promulgated to check corruption and usher transparency. If ACB matters are not in the domain of the Act, the entire purpose of the Act will be defeated, he contended. The Information Commission which met on Saturday overruled the contention of the government and ordered it to furnish information about IAS officers against whom ACB recommended action was dropped. Sources in the government said that a large number of officers had been allowed to go scot-free in the last five years. The powerful IAS lobby was putting pressure on successive governments to drop action against the officers and keep it under wraps, the sources said. Talking to thins correspondent Mr Shafiquzzaman said, �People have a right to know which officer is honest and who is corrupt.�
The Chief Information Commissioner said information has to have, as a pre-requisite, connectivity with three ingredients, namely �impede the investigation, apprehension or prosecution of the offender�, to attract section 8(1)(h) of the
RTI Act. The commission pointed out information can be denied only if such denial serves the larger public interest, which is not so in the present case. �Denial of such information will seriously impair the objectives for which the legislation was promulgated,� said the commission.
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