The State government has gone on appeal against Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Vinson M. Paul’s order on Cabinet decisions for getting clarity on who should provide the details and how it should be given, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Replying to notice on adjournment motion of V.D. Satheesan in the Assembly on Tuesday on the government’s refusal to provide the details of the Cabinet decisions, Mr. Vijayan said that the government was committed to publicise the decisions.
Mr. Paul’s June 15 order said that the public information officer of the Chief Secretary should provide the Cabinet agenda, minutes and decisions made during the last 72 days of the previous government within 10 days.
Various courts have passed orders on the same issue and there was a lack of clarity on who and how the decisions should be given against an RTI application.
The Chief Secretary is only a temporary custodian of the files and the orders on decisions are issued by the Secretaries of the respective departments. Hence it demanded clarity.
Clearing confusion
Only the High Court can clear the confusion and the government has filed the writ petition.
The government has done away with the system of taking up issues out of agenda at the Cabinet meetings and issued guidelines for furnishing the details.
Mr. Vijayan accused Mr. Satheesan of creating confusion on the issue.
Secrecy alleged
Mr. Satheesan said that the government was refusing to provide the details of the Oommen Chandy Cabinet since it was unwilling to publish its decisions in future. Mr. Vijayan, on becoming the Chief Minister, has a lot of secrets.
He has done away with the post-Cabinet press briefing saying he was unwilling to don a liaison officer’s role. This was undemocratic, he said.
No lapse
Mr. Vijayan said that there was no lapse on the government in sharing information with the media. Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala accused Mr. Viajayn of aping Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan denied leave for the motion on the basis of the government explanation and the Opposition walked out in protest.
