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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | State excludes SPE Lokayukta, EOW from RTI by Joseph John

State excludes SPE Lokayukta, EOW from RTI by Joseph John

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published Published on Aug 29, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 29, 2011

Amidst much indignation over the need for more transparency to fight corruption, the state government has ordered to keep the Special Police Establishment (SPE) of the Lokayukta and Economic Offences Wing (EOW) out of the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005, raising suspicion over the motive behind the action.

The General Administration Department issued a notification on August 25. RTI activists and civil society groups allege that the government has misused provisions of the transparency law to keep these agencies out. Ironically, the move came a day before CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan called on President Pratibha Patil and sought her assent for a state legislation-MP Special Courts Bill 2011-against corruption.which is being portrayed as an effective tool to fight corruption cases in a time-bound manner and to confiscate property amassed by "public servants through corrupt means".

But, what provoked the BJP government to decide that the RTI Act shall not apply to the cases under investigation by the SPE or EOW, that too when a wave of public sentiment against corruption is sweeping the country in the wake of Anna Hazare's campaign?

Many in political and bureaucratic circles suspect that this move has something to do with the "dumper scam" where in it was alleged that Chouhan misused his official position to rent out dumper trucks to an industrial house as a quid pro quo for allotting a mining lease. After the chief minister and his wife Sadhna Singh recently got a clean chit from a court, the BJP government apparently feared that there could be a flood of RTI applications with the SPE of Lokayukta, seeking copies of note-sheets and other documents on how the agency probed the case and whether right procedures were followed or not.

"This notification exempting SPE of Lokayukta and EOW is bad in law. While exercising powers under Section 24 sub-section four of the RTI Act, the government deliberately avoided mentioning a part of the same sub-section which stipulates that any information pertaining to allegations of corruption and human rights violations shall not be excluded under this sub-section," says RTI activist Ajay Dubey, secretary of "Prayatna", an environmental action group.

In a memorandum submitted to the state Governor, he pointed out that the BJP government's move was aimed at keeping secret the complaints of corruption against influential persons, as both agencies were probing corruption complaints against some ministers and senior bureaucrats. Besides, a number of recommendations-both from the Lokayukta and the EOW-for prosecution are pending for approval before the state government.

However, in the preamble of the notification, the state government sought to explain the rationale behind the decision, saying that it considered that disclosure of details regarding names of informers or complainants in economic offences under investigation in the SPE or EOW RTI may endanger the life and physical safety of such informers or complainants. It said the government also considered that the disclosure of such information would impede the process of investigation or apprehension and prosecution of offenders.

The Times of India, 28 August, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/9770028.cms


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