Place all panel reports on website: CIC to Environment Ministry

NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission has directed the Environment Ministry to publish reports of all commissions, special committees or panels on its website within a month of receiving them unless they are exempt under the clauses of the Right to Information Act.

The Commission issued these directives to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests while hearing the plea of Kerala-based G Krishnan who had sought copies of summary of the report 'the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP)' under the chairmanship of Professor Madhav Gadgil and their report on the Athirappilly HEP, Kerala.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said public money is spent on such commissions and hence the reports must be made public in accordance with the mandatory suo motu disclosure clause of the transparency.

"Section 4(1)(c) of the RTI Act mandates that all public authorities shall "publish all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect public". It is claimed by the PIO that the policy is being formulated and hence the report cannot be disclosed, Gandhi said.

He added the law required suo motu disclosure by the public authority "while" formulating important policies and not "after" formulating them.

"Obviously, the thinking was that our democracy is improved and deepened by public participation in the process of decision-making, and not when a policy is finalised and then merely announced in the name of the people," he said.

"The Commission directs that the Ministry of Environment and Forests should publish all reports of commissions, special committees or panels within 30 days of receiving them, unless it feels that any part of such report is exempt under the provisions of Section 8(1) or 9 of the RTI Act," he said.