After two PILs, Telangana HC stays state Chief Secretary's controversial order on RTI Act

The Telangana High Court on Monday stayed an internal circular issued by the state Chief Secretary K Somesh Kumar directing all the Special Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Secretaries of the government to take prior permission from the respective heads of departments before disclosing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This comes after two PILs (Public Interest Litigation) were filed seeking a stay on the circular.

As per reports, the petitioner said that since RTI Act of 2005 is a central act enacted by the Parliament, the Chief Secretary has no authority over it and it could dilute the spirit of the RTI Act as there could be delays in recieving information. 

The two PILs were heard by the bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A Rajasheker Reddy. The PILs were filed by Sri Dhruti Chitarapu, a law student, and Ganji Srinivas Rao, an RTI activist.

The government's order on RTI act is being criticised by several RTI activists and bureaucrats. Former IAS officer A Murali took to Twitter and slammed the Telangana government over its order.

What was the Telangana government's order? 

In its official order on October 13, the state government had stated, "It has come to notice of the undersigned that the State Public Information Officers designated / appointed under Right to Information Act, 2005 in certain administrative units or Offices are furnishing information to the applicants in a routine manner without proper verification of the records with reference to the information sought for by the application."

It further said, "Therefore, all the Spl. Chief Secretaries/ Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries to the Government are requested to instruct the Public information Officers designated/ appointed in their office to obtain orders of Spl. Chief Secretaries/ Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries to the 'Government/ Head of the Department, before furnishing the information to the applicant under Right to Information Act,2005."