Kathmandu Post

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Information classification move

KATHMANDU, FEB 10 -
A day after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai revoked a Cabinet decision to legalise war-ear property transactions, it has come to light that he has already backtracked from another controversial decision on classifying information, which had equally drawn scathing criticism from various quarters.

Documents obtained by the Post reveal that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed in writing to all the ministries and bodies concerned to not implement the decision to classify 140 categories of information as “confidential.”  The PMO circular was issued last week and the Post obtained a copy of it on Friday. It directs some 34 government bodies, including ministries, departments, and anti-graft agencies to not implement the decision.

In the last week of January, the government issued a new “classified information directive” that barred an individual, the media or any other organisation from acquiring 140 types of information, which included information on big government-run projects, parliamentary decisions and major decisions of the Cabinet. The directive denied information to the public for 1 to 30 years, despite the provision in the Right to Information Act 2007 that only five categories of information related to national sovereignty, security and judiciary may be kept secret.

Chief Commissioner of the National Information Commission (NIC) Binaya Kasaju confirmed that the government has written to the government agencies about the withdrawal of its controversial decision that the Supreme Court also stayed.

“The Commission has taken it positively. Some bureaucrats with a traditional mind-set had worked hard to classify the information. But their efforts to go against the RTI Act proved futile,” Kasaju said.

The government decision, which came to light in mid-January, sparked an outrage among the media fraternity and the opposition parties. The Supreme Court later issued a couple of orders to the government asking it not to implement the decision. Following protests and the court orders, PM Baburam Bhattarai had assured he would revise the decision.



How the move progressed

•    Jan 15: Govt issues directives to ministries, central agencies to not disclose 140 types of information

•    Jan 31: Federation of Nepalese Journalists declares nationwide protests against the move

•    Jan 31: Supreme Court stays the directive

•    Feb 1: Govt decides against implementing the decision

•    Feb 2: Opposition parties demand scrapping of the decision

•    Feb 5: SC stays directive again


Posted on: 2012-02-11 09:05

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