Will babus share official secrets with public?

Vijay Times, Sept 25, 2005

B D Narayankar

Bangalore: With bureaucrats being appointed to key posts for the implementation of the Right to Information (R TI) Act, social activists and NGOs have raised doubts about the Act serving its real purpose. Will these bureaucrats shed their typical colonial mindset and implement the R TI Act in right earnest, they ask. ’’V ery few will disagree that the bureaucracy has never been people-friendly . With their sole obsession being serving the interests of their political masters, their appointment to key posts for R TI Act implementation will be dangerous," said Rajashekhar Naikal, programme executive of Human and Institutional Development F orum. Recently , Ella Kannada V edike International (E-KA VI) had urged Governor T N Chaturvedi to remove K K Mishra as Information Commissioner , the topmost post in the State created under the Act. Mishra had been reprimanded by Karnataka High Court for deliberately withholding important facts and documents relating to Rs 2,250 crore BangaloreMysore Infrastructure Corridor project and making false statements in the affidavits. E-KA VI has held that an officer who had lied to the court could not be trusted with the top post. ’’If the government is serious about bringing transparency in administration, why should it appoint an officer who is not people-friendly? Why not a person committed to upholding the right of the people to access official information?" a social activist asked. It is in the backdrop of this generall prevalent feeling -- that the bureaucrats can never change their hearts -- that many do not expect the kind of revolutionary change in the governance as enunciated in the Act preamble. "F orget the common people, the bureaucrats may not share the information among themselves," argued another social activist. A leading journalist said appointment of bureaucrats would affect go vernment’s credibility . ’’The government should have, instead, evolved a separate mechanism by installing eminent persons from public life in key posts. The Act itself specifies that men of eminence, with knowledge and experience in law , science and technology , social service, management, media, administration and governance be appointed to the posts," he said. The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (CPRTI) has also raised serious doubts about the intention of the governments vis-a-vis RTI Act. Naikal feels that R TI will remain just an extended wing of the go vernment if is stuffed with bureaucrats.