THIRUVANANTHPUARAM: AYUSH secretary Dr B Ashok said that a progressive state should throw open its cabinet meetings to the public, just the way Assembly proceedings were carried out. “This will not only make the internal transactions inside the cabinet transparent but will also allow the voters to understand a minister’s position on various issues,” Dr Ashok said while taking part in a seminar on RTI ‘Right to Know: The Hurdles’ organised jointly by RTI Kerala Federation and Human Rights Vigilance Forum here on Saturday.
According to him, a state cabinet does not discuss issues that require any secrecy but only issues like health and education and food security and water that are close to the common man. “The secrecy of the cabinet was the vestige of colonial times when wars necessitated certain level of confidentiality,” Dr Ashok said.
Further, he put forward a thumb rule. “The executive should look at what the other two arms of democracy, legislature and judiciary, are doing. Both these arms are providing 100 percent transparency. This should be taken as the golden standard by the executive,” Dr Ashok said.
Nonetheless, he pointed out that the existing RTI law it was not binding on the state to disclose cabinet information. Cabinet papers, including records of deliberations of the council of ministers, secretaries and other officers, have been exempt from disclosure of information under section 8 of RTI Act, 2005. Like Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan argued it could be made public only after the decision has been made, and the matter is complete, or over.
RTI activist advocate D B Binu, even while conceding the legal point, finds the argument regressive. He gives an example. “Just three days before G Karthikeyan’s death, the UDF government decided to scrap the Right to be Heard proposal mooted by the former speaker. How will the public come to know of this if cabinet documents are made public only after they become decisions,” Binu asked.
