Parliamentary Committee proceedings dont come under RTI purview: CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Tuesday held that the proceedings of a Parliamentary Committee did not come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act....

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The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Tuesday held that the proceedings of a Parliamentary Committee did not come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act and would remain confidential unless a report of its findings was on record before Parliament.

The CIC was deciding on an RTI appeal filed against the Rajya Sabha Secretariat for information on inputs supplied by the Department of Personnel & Training to the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs,on the basis of which the latter prepared its 83rd Report on Central Secretariat Services. The report was submitted before Parliament on December 19,2001.

The applicant,Patanjali Sharma,complained of gross factual errors in

the report,which were adversely affecting his career advancement.

In defence,the Secretariat contended that any evidence presented,reports made and proceedings of parliamentary committees were to be treated as confidential unless they were

laid on the table of the House or presented as a report in Parliament.

The appellants (Sharma) request for inspection of the records of the committee or for any further information therefrom cannot be acceded to in terms of Sec 8(1) (c) of the RTI Act because these are considered confidential. The deliberations of the Committee come in public domain only in the form of Committee reports,which contain in detail the matters considered by it at different stages. The reports also carry with them records of the proceedings of the Committee in the form of minutes, the Secretariat through Central Public Information Officer N C Joshi contended in the CIC hearing.

Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah,who heard the case,on Tuesday said,The papers circulated to the Committee are treated as confidential and the contents thereof cannot be divulged to anyone without the permission of the Chairman of the Committee. CPIO Deepak Goyal will now arrange to seek the permission of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs within 10 working days,” Habibullah ordered.