No restriction on RTI act: Kerala CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister  Pinarayi Vijayan has clarified that he never intended to impose any restrictions on the Right to Information Act and said that his statement was being misinterpreted.

“It was unfortunate that I was misquoted as saying that I was attempting to dilute the spirit of the RTI Act. I had only pointed out the restrictions imposed on revealing central cabinet decisions pertaining to national security. How can it be misinterpreted as a stand against the Act? I had not even made any mention about the state cabinet. It is an attempt to draw parallels between the present government and the previous government that refused to divulge the details of corruption,” said Mr. Vijayan in a statement.

Mr. Vijayan had referred to the central restrictions  during his inaugural address at a recent seminar organised by the State Information Commission. Incidentally, there has been a row in the state over the refusal of the state government to divulge the details of certain cabinet decisions taken by the previous UDF government in the last months of its tenure. The reports that Mr. Vijayan preferred restrictions on the RTI had triggered a controversy and even CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran had indirectly flayed it.

Mr Vijayan said in his statement that  in his speech he had only mentioned the steps to strengthen the RTI Act and pointed out its rampant misuse. The public information officers were even warned against denying without genuine reasons the information sought under the Act.

He also said that by referring to the central restrictions, he never meant that any information pertaining to the government should be suppressed. “The Left parties had carried out long agitations for right to information. Hence, there is no meaning in expecting a different view from a person who has been part of the Left front,” Mr. Vijayan said.