The Kerala government, which had initially refused to abide by the Information Commission’s directive to put Cabinet decisions on public domain, has made a volte-face.
In a controversial move, the State government denied information on Cabinet decisions to those seeking them under the Right to Information Act, and challenged the directive by the State Information Commission, in the High Court.
The commission had also asked the State government to consider putting Cabinet decisions on government websites within 48 hours. The government’s decision to not give out information in public was widely criticised. However, the government has now decided to display all Cabinet decisions on websites 48 hours after they are taken.
The State Chief Secretary has instructed department heads to get all government orders (GOs), issued on the basis of decisions made at the meetings of the Cabinet, published on the websites of each department. The GOs should be sent to the Public Relations Department, which will put them on the respective sites.
The State Information Commission had ordered the government to share decisions made by the former Oommen Chandy government in the last few months of the erstwhile UDF regime. The information was sought by leading RTI activist DB Binu.
Stitch in timeBy reversing the decision, the LDF government seems to have saved its face. At a meeting of the State Council of the CPI, the second largest party in the LDF after the CPI (M), speakers pointed out that the earlier decision had damaged the reputation of the government. The LDF has been a strong supporter of the RTI movement.