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Chief secy defends ‘transparent’, ‘progressive’ information policy

KATHMANDU, JAN 27 -
Chief Secretary Madhav Ghimire on Friday said the new information policy prepared recently by the government under his panel is “more transparent and progressive.”

Media reports said the government has issued a new classified information directive that restricts an individual, the media or any organisation from gaining 140 types of information, including those on big development projects, parliamentary decisions and major decisions of the government.

The Right to Information (RTI) Act 2007, however, restricts supply of only five category of information related to national sovereignty, security and judiciary.

The move has irked the Federation of Nepali Journalists and others alike. “The FNJ is seriously concerned about the classification of information which is a matter of shame for the nation,” the umbrella organisation of journalists said in a statement.

Ghimire, who led a committee that made recommendations for the directive, however said they have “tried to keep a freer regime when it comes to information dissemination.”

“Our recommendations are more liberal, transparent and information-friendly than the earlier ones prepared some three years ago,” he told the Post. “Some laws and acts of various ministries or government agencies have a provision of keeping confidential some information for some time and we simply followed that,” he claimed.

Former Supreme Court registrar Ram Krishna Timilsena said the move is against democratic values and will spoil the government’s image if it is not corrected immediately. “This classification goes beyond exceptions that we can have from Clause 3 (3) of the Right to Information Act,” he said. “Though the classification looks like it is in line with the law, it is actually in breach of the law.”

The Ghimire-led panel had held consultations with secretaries of various ministries and government agencies as it prepared the recommendations.

 “It is not an attempt to hold back information, but we want to bring in a revolution in the information dissemination system,” Ghimire claimed. Article 27 of the RTI Act authorises the chief secretary to introduce the information classification in a bid to implement the Act in a more systematic way. The chief secretary and secretary of the respective ministry, an expert and RTI activists must be included in the information classification committee. However, the Ghimire committee had appointed former secretary of the Ministry of Law and Justice, Mohan Banjade, as an expert of all the sectors while preparing the directive.

Meanwhile, RTI activists have rejected the government’s new directive. They said it was a politically motivated attempt to hide information of public interest to cover up corruption and criminal cases.

At a programme in the Capital, the activists said they will challenge the decision both in the courts and the streets, condemning it as “unnecessary control over people’s rights to information taken with ill intention.”

FNJ chairperson Shiva Gaule said the FNJ has communicated with the Prime Minister regarding the directive. “The PM has assured he will talk to the RTI activists and media representatives in a couple of days. We will be forced to take the case to court and the streets if our pleas are unheard,” Gaule said. The directive needs to be scrapped as its implementation will automatically leave the RTI Act and the National Information Commission (NIC) formed in 2007 defunct, said Chief Information Commissioner Binaya Kumar Kasaju.

Senior Advocate Tika Ram Bhattarai termed it a “polite version of a royal ordinance.” “It will encourage corruption and crime,” he said.



Move challenged in SC

KATHMANDU: A writ has been filed in the Supreme Court against the government’s decision to categorise 140 types of information as “classified.” In the petition filed on Friday, advocate Kamal Prasad Itani said the government has decided to classify information of agendas under consideration in the Cabinet, recommendations of the constitutional council, Cabinet recommendation for the post of ambassadors and treaties that Nepal signs with other countries.

Itani argued that the decision to classify such information is against the law and that it must be revoked. The defendants include the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of  Information and Communications, the Ministry of Law and Justice, Parliament Secretariat, the Department of Information and Chief Secretary Madhav Ghimire.

Posted on: 2012-01-28 09:13

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