No smokescreens, promises CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the state government would not hide cabinet decisions from the public. Mr  Vijayan,  while replying to a notice for an  adjournment motion in the Assembly on Tuesday,  said that the as per the RTI Act, cabinet decisions need to be  made public only after the  Government Order (GO) on the subject was issued. The state government had approached the court seeking more clarity about the order of the RTI  commission.

“Only when an order is issued, it can be said that a decision taken is over or complete. The government wanted more clarity on this issue,” he pointed out. Mr Vijayan said as per the present decision the order would be uploaded on the government website within 48 hours of issuing the order. The State Information Commission (SIC) had issued an order on June 16 that all decisions by the state government, once complete, came under the ambit of the RTI Act and the Public Information officer of the Chief Secretary's office should provide the details to the public.

Mr Vijayan defended the practice of discontinuing with the cabinet briefing by the chief minister, which existed for several years in the state, saying that he had already expressed his views on the matter. Mr Vijayan had earlier said he was not interested in doing  public relations work. On the basis of the reply,  Speaker P.  Sreeramakrishnan refused to allow the adjournment motion which led to the Opposition walkout.

Before the walkout, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the LDF government was creating a ‘smokescreen’ over the issue to keep its decisions away from the people. Mr V.D. Satheesan of the Congress who raised the issue through the notice said that the government’s  attempt to keep cabinet decisions under wraps was against democratic principles. “It is against the spirit of the RTI Act,” he said.