M A I N   N E W S

Information Bill passed
Battle of wits between Nariman, Jethmalani
Tribune News Service and UNI

New Delhi, December 16
The Freedom of Information Bill, which envisages to provide citizens statutory right to access official information to promote greater transparency, openness and accountability in administration, was today passed by the Rajya Sabha.

The Bill was passed unanimously with a voice vote, negating the amendments moved by Congress member Prithviraj Chavan after the government promised to finetune the measure based on experience.

Of the nearly 200 countries in the world, only 20 countries, including India, have enacted such a provision and it was felt that the measure was only a step in the direction of providing transparency, openness and accountability in governance, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension Vasundhara Raje said replying to a three-hour discussion.

Even as members, cutting across party lines, welcomed the Bill, many of them criticised the government for not incorporating a penal provision and an independent appellate mechanism.

Members, including Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, demanded that a penalty clause should be introduced for officials who withhold information and also instead of having a departmental appeal, citizens should have the right to approach courts against any denial of information.

On the demand for appeal in courts, Ms Raje said social activist H.D. Shourie had gone into this aspect and found that courts were already overburdened and this would negate the purpose for which the Bill was being brought.

The Rajya Sabha witnessed a battle of wits between legal luminaries Fali S. Nariman and Ram Jethmalani during the discussion on the Bill.

Mr Nariman (nominated) expressed apprehensions regarding the implementation of the Bill and cautioned the government against exposing official files to inspection by “all and sundry.”

Stating that providing government files for inspection to citizens, as envisaged in the Bill, would bring governance to a standstill, Mr Nariman warned “half the files will be missing and the other half will be destroyed. The provision on inspection of files should be removed from the Bill.”

A better option would be to provide certified copies of the file notations to the people, he added.

Wondering where was the space in government offices for people to sit and inspect files, Mr Nariman said he wanted to know from Ms Raje as to what safeguards would be taken to protect the files and office premises.

Stating that provisions such as inspection of files was alright for small countries with small populations, Mr Nariman said in a huge country like India, “where every one suspects every one else, and the government most of all,” such a step would lead to chaos.

He also wanted to know whether the inspection of files would be allowed only to Indian citizens or foreigners also, which would be detrimental to national interests.

Urging the minister not to notify the Bill till the infrastructure for its implementation was put in place, Mr Nariman said it would have been better to implement it at the Central and state levels first and then extend it to the municipal and panchayat levels.

Former Law and Justice Minister Ram Jethmalani (Independent) expressed surprise at this “conservative facet” of Mr Nariman, whom he described as a liberal politician.

Asserting that the right to inspect was a pre-condition for the right to get a copy, Mr Jethmalani said unless citizens had seen the notings in the files, how would they know that they had got the right copies.

Calling for forthwith implementation of the Bill, he agreed that it was not perfect and had in fact struck a “compromise between bureaucratic secrecy and democratic transparency; deeds of governance and people’s right to know.”

Declaring that the right to information had already been evolved by the Supreme Court, Mr Jethamalani said the Bill only created a mechanism for that right to be enforced.

He said it was also clear that only Indian citizens would have the right of access to official files.