18 INDIA TODAY u JUNE 30, 2008 JUNE 30, 2008 u INDIA TODAY 19

NARENDRA BISHT

In the third week of May at a functionto release the ‘Report to the People2008’ on the UPA Government’s com-pletion of the fourth year in office,

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhwaxed eloquent about the achieve-mentsof his regime while laying specialemphasis on its record in open govern-ment. “The UPA Government has set anew standard for accountability andtransparency in governance,” heannounced. The prime minister wasonly partially right since it was the UPA

Government that had enacted the Rightto Information (RTI) Act, which gaveordinary citizens the right to seek bothinformation and accountability fromtheir leaders. However, it is the actualimplementation of open governancethat remains a closely-guarded secret.

On November 6, 2007, INDIA TODAY

invoked the RTI, seeking informationfrom the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)whether Union ministers had fileddetails of their assets and liabilities.This followed reports that the primeminister was miffed after his ministersrepeatedly ignored reminders from theCabinet Secretariat to file these details.The ministers who showed utterdisdain for the cabinet secretary’sreminders were from the Congress aswell as from its alliance partners.

The practice of asking all Unionministers to file details of assets and taxreturns with the PMO every year wasinitiated by Atal Bihari Vajpayee afterhe took over as prime minister in 1999.Though the move met with initialresistance, especially from the BJP’salliance partners, eventually mostministers fell in line. A system was alsoput in place to ensure that the processwas adhered to. On taking the oath ofoffice, every minister is handed a copyof the code of conduct. It says, amongother things, that ministers should dis-close to the PMO details of their assets,liabilities and business interests alongwith those of their family members.Manmohan, in the best interests oftransparency, kept up the tradition.

This magazine’s efforts to gatherinformation of the ministers’ assets,

Under the RTI Act it is mandatory to reply to all querieswithin four weeks, but most go unanswered for months.[ ]

liabilities and tax returns made it amplyevident that most of the UPA ministershave scant regard for the prime minis-ter’s lofty ideals. Our RTI application,sent to both the PMO and the CabinetSecretariat, asked these specific ques-tions: “Whether the prime minister hasasked his cabinet/state ministers to filethe details of their assets and liabilitiesannually; the exact date of such advice;reminders sent to the defaulters and thenames of ministers who expressed theirinability to file such details.”

That is when we discovered that theopenness which Manmohan talkedabout is mostly a farce and the bureau-crats and politicians were doing what

n By Shyamlal Yadav

ABOVE SCRUTINY: ManmohanSingh (right) with senior colleagues

they were best at—passing the buck.On November 19, 2007, 10 days afterthe RTI application was filed, the PMO

responded saying that the “CabinetSecretariat dealt with the matter andyou are advised to contact the Centralpublic information officer, CabinetSecretariat, for further information inthe matter.” Shockingly enough, a weeklater, the secretariat responded to theinitial application stating that the“information asked for pertains to thePrime Minister’s Office and the CabinetSecretariat is not directly concernedwith the subject matter. This secre-tariat… has transferred your request tothe Prime Minister’s Office, SouthBlock… for appropriate action.”

The two offices are situated just astone’s throw from each other. But forany one trying to do business witheither, they couldn’t be further apart.The replies that were received fromeach office were sent to the otherfollowing which the secretariat wroteon December 24 that “the matter isunder consideration of the competentauthority and the information/reply

well. A second reminder was sent onMarch 7. When that too went unan-

swered, a third reminderwas sent asking ifthere was a “stipu-lated time frame toreply to suchrequests”. Nearly fourmonths had elapsed,though under the RTI

Act it is mandatory toreply to queries within a month.

The next door to beknocked on was that ofthe Central InformationCommission (CIC), whichoversees the implemen-tation of the RTI Act. OnMarch 17, thismagazine wrote to theCIC saying that both

the PMO and the CabinetSecretariat have been indul-

ging in buck-passing and not replyingto repeated queries raised under theRTI. “Such an attitude will defeat thevery purpose of the RTI Act. When highoffices like the PMO and the CabinetSecretariat show such an approach, itcan only be deduced how the lower-level offices will deal with requests toRTI applications,” we wrote to the CIC.There is no reply forthcoming from the CIC either, which gives the feelingthat it would be foolish to expect thequeries to be answered during thetenure of this government.

The prime minister’s brave wordsabout the declaration of assets byministers is just words and nothingelse. The Representation of the PeopleAct was amended in 2004 to make itcompulsory for all legislators to declaretheir assets and liabilities within 90days of being elected. Strangely, thereis no such provision for ministers. Thatministers treat with contemptdirectives from the PMO—issued via theCabinet Secretariat seeking annualdeclaration of assets—is indicative ofthe sheer helplessness of the PMO in acoalition setup where every partner,even a minor one, is a major bully.

If this is the actual level oftransparency at the highest levelswhere leaders are expected to be moreaccountable, the less said the betterabout politics and those who practise itat the lower levels. n

The CabinetSecretary kepttossing the ball

to the PMO,which lobbed

it back.

The CIC, whichoversees the

implementationof the RTI, is yet to list our

appeal.

will be sent to you in due course.”Nothing happened for nearly twomonths. On February 1, we sent a re-minder to the secretariat requesting itto forward the information as soon aspossible. A copy of this letter was en-dorsed to the appellate authority as

B U C K - P A S S I N G

K.M.CHANDRASHEKHAR, CAB SECY W.HABIBULL AH, CIC

>

n “You are advised to contact theCPIO, Cabinet Secretariat forfurther information in the matter.”Response from PMO dated Nov 19, 2007

n “The information asked for per-tains to the PMO and the CabinetSecretariat is not directly con-nected with the subject matter.”Response from Cab Sec dated Nov 26, 2007

n “The matter is under considera-tion and information will be sentto you in due course.”Response from Cab Sec on Dec 24, 2007

Despite the prime minister’s claim of transparency, efforts to get information under the RTI Act are often stonewalledOPEN SECRET

nation RTI