Information Bill passed; full of loopholes, says Oppn

After having been introduced, it had been referred to a parliamentary standing committee and subsequently examined by a Group of Ministers(GoM). While Minister of State for Personnel Vasundhara Raje replied to the debate, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan appealed to the House not to delay the passage of the Bill even if they thought there were some deficiencies in it.

Mahajan was reacting to concern expressed by Shivraj Patil of the Congress that the Bill did not provide for accessing information relating to persons who had defaulted after availing of huge loans from banks and other financial institutions. The Bill was welcomed by all parties despite some members pointing out that the provisions were weak in nature.

There were objections to the lack of a penal clause which could be used against officials who refuse to part with information. Somnath Chatterjee (CPM) was not entirely happy with the Bill saying that it was only a ‘‘half step forward’’. He was sceptical about citizens getting free access to information as the Bill talked of all aspects other than transparency.

‘’The V.P. Singh Govt had introduced the bill to end corruption. There is no way of seeking information through this Bill either for unravelling corruption or having a clear public perception even about disinvestment of the profit-making public sector companies,’’ he remarked. P.R.Dasmunshi (Congress) also spoke on similar lines. K. Yerran Naidu (TDP) described the Bill as a ‘‘very weak’’ one.

‘‘At a time when nothing is a secret anymore we are trying to make access to information difficult,’’ he said.