First year of RTI was learning period: Wajahat Habibullah

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Oct 7 (UNI) As the Right to Information Act (RTI) approaches its first anniversary, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah says the first year was a learning process and asks for some more time to prove the law's worth in upholding the right of the people.

''Don't judge us by the first year, give us a bit more time to prove that we will standby and we will uphold the rights of the Indian people,'' he said in an interview to the CNN-IBN programme Devil's Advocate to be broadcast tomorrow at 2000 hrs.

''The difference will start being felt over a period of time.

Don't jump to conclusions,'' he said.

The RTI had become operational from October 12 last year.

Mr Habibullah revealed that the Information Commission had objected to the fact that the Government had proposed amendments without consulting it.

''Those amendments were proposed without consulting the Commission and to that we had taken objection and we have been in touch with the Government thereafter,'' he said.

Explaining for the first time in detail why, unlike some of his fellow commissioners, he had not criticised the Government's proposed amendments of the Right to Information Act, Mr Habibullah said that this was beyond his merit as Chief Information Commissioner.

He said he was "an arbiter" and not "an activist". However, the CIC went on to give a categorical assurance to citizens that "we (the Commission) shall certainly see to it that they get whatever rights they are guaranteed under this act".

Replying to allegations of being ''soft'' to bureaucrats, Mr Habibullah said he did not want the Right to Information Act to develop into "a confrontation between one section of society and another section of society".

''The beauty of this act is that it is not the act of the Commission or the Government or the public. It's everybody's act,'' he added.

He accepted the Information Commission has committed some lapses and some errors and added that a review is undertaken every tuesday when the Commission meets as a whole to look into such cases. Speaking about his mandate, Mr Habibullah his duty was "to implement the Act as it is", adding ''it is not for me to start commenting on the contents of the Act.'' However, the Chief Information Commissioner added that the prime objective of the RTI act was to ensure "accountability and transparency" and this was therefore his principal mandate.

''My mandate is to work only according to the Act itself. As far as the Commission is concerned it's the objective of the Act to bring about accountability and transparency and that in fact is our entire effort - to see that accountability and transparency are there ... my mandate is to implement the Act as it is. It's not for me to start commenting on the contents of the Act - what the Act is like or what it is not like.

UNI NAZ LS DS1310

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X