By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:Rs 3.30 crore has been spent on the renovation of the two quarters of the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. The administrative and technical approval given by the government for the renovation and improvement of these quarters is confidential. If the people of the state know this information, the security of the Chief Minister will be in danger, and the state will also suffer. Moreover, this is the personal information of the Chief Minister. The people of the state do not have the right to know. The Public Administration Department has refused to provide the information, arguing such absurdity.
Both the Information Commission and government officials are making such misleading arguments and unnecessarily citing various sections of the law to hide important information that is of public interest.
Such a conspiracy is being used to undermine the Right to Information Act in the state.
The PIO refused to provide this information requested under the Right to Information Act. The PIO raised a counter argument. If the technical approval for the development of the quarter is released, the security architecture, engineering and structural particulars of the quarter will be exposed. This will jeopardize the security of the Chief Minister. Such a provision is not in the Right to Information Act. The provisions of which information cannot be provided for what reason are in the Information Act. But the PIO did not mention under which grounds this information cannot be provided.
After this, I filed an appeal, citing incomplete information. The order of the first appellate authority is even more shocking and shameful. A person with a moderate education would not have made such an order.
He stated in his order that information cannot be provided under Section 8(1) of the Right to Information Act. This section provides that if the disclosure of a piece of information is likely to prejudice the unity and integrity of the country, or is likely to damage the security, economic interests of the country, or is likely to damage the foreign relations of the country, then that information cannot be provided.
The reader will consider how the country’s interests will be harmed by the administrative approval of the Chief Minister’s quarter repair.
