RAMESH INDER SINGH,CHIEF INFORMATION COMMISIONER,PUNJAB
Punjab’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Ramesh Inder Singh has said that the oath of “secrecy” administered to ministers or bureaucrats at the time of induction should be replaced by an oath of “transparency” to protect the “sanctity” of the Right to Information Act (RTI).
The RTI and oath of secrecy are contradictory and could lead to conflict of interest, the CIC said. True democratic accountability and transparency as envisaged under the RTI Act could be achieved only if provisions for oath of secrecy are undone.
“This oath only represents the colonial era where governments and its machinery as well as officials were always considered supreme. But the implementation of the RTI has changed all. So, at a time when public has got a constitutionally sanctioned legal right to know every detail of what its minister or, for that matter, any officer was doing, the oath of secrecy carries no relevance. Rather, it appears conflicting and contradictory”, Singh told Daily Post in an exclusive interview.
He opined that such a change was necessary with immediate effect as existing set of governance was “deeply” embedded in secrecy owing to such provisions.
“The IAS or IPS officers at the time of induction too become a part of same system and inherit same ethos and values. Thus, to implement the RTI act in true spirits we need shift in values and ethos of entire government structure”, he added.
Dismissing the charge of RTI activists that he had always held “soft corner”, for erring bureaucrats, the CIC said all judgments are pronounced in open
courts, thus there stands no chance of “favouring” any official.
Asked if it is right to post bureaucrats, who inherit a system embedded in secrecy at helm of affairs of the Information Commission, the former chief secretary replied in affirmative. “Why not”, he said adding, a bureaucrat, in any case, is more familiarised with all ins and outs of the system than others.
Punjab Chief Information Commissioner Ramesh Inder Singh.
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COURTESY DAILPOST BY AMIT SHARMA/AUG.12,2011,
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