The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that a matter should be considered complete when it reaches the parliament for further procedure after being cleared by the cabinet.
The decision was given when an applicant from Lucknow, SN Shukla, sought a copy of the National Judicial Appointments Commissions Bill cleared by the cabinet, as well as copy of the cabinet notes.
The CIC has asked the department of justice to provide the cabinet papers pertaining to the Bill.
While the hearing on Shukla's second appeal took place on December 26, 2014, the order was given on Wednesday by central information commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu.
The public information officer (PIO), in his response, had said while the first time a copy could not be given because the government changed, later, a revised Bill was prepared, which could be accessed from the website. The PIO, however, had sought exemption from giving cabinet notes under the clause that there was no "finality" to the Bill and the matter wasn't over.
But Shukla argued that for a meaningful debate such disclosure was important and that one needs to know the rationale behind the purpose of the Bill. He cited a high court order to argue his case.
The CIC was of the view that as soon as the final decision was taken with regard to the Bill, introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2013, the matter was complete.
It has directed the respondent authority to provide the notes on the cabinet decision, the cabinet noting for the decision taken thereafter on the revised Bill, which was passed by parliament in 2014, and the report of the parliamentary standing committee on the Bill and every other related paper on this subject to the appellant for free within 30 days from the date of receipt of this order.
"The order is good. Once the Bill is given to parliament, the matter is closed. Once it is forwarded to parliament, no one is even breaching privileges of parliament," said Bhaskar Prabhu of the Mahiti Adhikar Manch, an NGO that works towards creating awareness on RTI Act.
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