Making Cabinet decisions public: Govt changes stand

Thiruvananthapuram: In an apparent deviation from its earlier stand, the CPI-M led LDF government on Saturday said it would make the Cabinet decisions public within 48 hours.

In an order issued by the Chief Secretary in this regard, it is said that the decisions taken in the Cabinet meetings would be published on government website within 48 hours. A copy of the decisions would also be given to the Public Administration department.

Earlier, bringing the matter into the limelight, the Opposition had in the Assembly protested the LDF government’s decision to challenge an order of State Information Commission directing it to furnish details of Cabinet decisions under the RTI Act.

Flaying the decision to challenge the SIC order in the High Court, the opposition members accused the government of trying to "hide" cabinet decisions.

The opposition protest came even as Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan asserted that his government had no intention to hide any information or weaken the RTI Act.

He said the government moved the High Court to seek a clarification on the SIC order.

"There are some uncertainties in the order and plan to approach the High Court is to clear that...This government is for transparency and the propaganda that the government is not revealing cabinet decisions has created misunderstanding among a section in the society," he said.

The SIC on June 16 had ordered that all decisions by the state government, once complete, come 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.

Stating that there was no plan to hide anything, Vijayan said necessary instructions had already been given to make available on the government website orders on cabinet decisions.

"Only when an order is issued, it can be said that a decision taken is over or complete," he pointed out.