New Delhi, June 25
The Congress-led UPA government is actively considering incorporating in the Right to Information Law the suggestions of President A P J Kalam that confidentiality of communication beween the Head of State and the Prime Minister should be maintained.

In case the Manmohan Singh government accepts the President's suggestions, then it will have to come forward with the necessary amendments in Parliament. Even though Mr Kalam has given his assent to the Right of Information Law, it is yet to be notified by the Union Law Ministry. On the relevant notification, the proposed Act takes effect making it mandatory for the government to part with information on demand from the public or individuals.

Mr Kalam felt the communication between the First Citizen and the country's chief executive should be considered privileged as it usually did not have any bearing on the people. On the other hand, the disclosure of such exchanges had the portends of creating unnecessary controversies affecting the effective functioning of the two high offices.

In this context, the President is believed to have pointed out that Rashtrapati Bhawan denied access to the Nanavati Commission to a 2002 communication between the then President, Mr K R Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Gujarat riots.

Mr Kalam is said to have also suggested that the notings of senior bureaucrats should also be kept out of the purview of the proposed Act to enable them to take right decisions without coming under pressure from any quarter.

This is particularly so as the legislation has penal provisions against top officials who fail to provide such information within a time frame.

With the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister had hailed it as historic as it will bring transparency, efficiency and accountability in the functioning of the government.

Striking a note of abundant caution, the President has also highlighted the need for the Prime Minister to ensure Presidential immunity and stipulate that documents emanating from the President's secretariat were not brought within the ambit of the Act.

Under the Act, both the Centre and the states could come up with rules on how to ensure accountability of ministries and departments. Mr Kalam is said to have observed that since it is a Central legislation, the rules should also be framed by the Centre.