Kochi: The High Court has temporarily stopped the release of the Hema Committee report. The action is on the producer’s petition. The proceedings have been stayed for a week. The petitioner argued in the High Court that none of the appellants had testified before the Commission. The petitioner said there was no public interest in the Hema Commission report. The stay is for one week. The court also decided to send notices to the opposite parties.
Although the Right to Information Commission and the government took a stand that the release of the report should not be blocked, the court took into account the petitioner’s argument that it would affect the privacy of some people. It has been almost five years since the Hema Committee submitted its report to the government. There has been a demand from various quarters for this to be made public. Taking this into account, the court issued a stay order around 2.30 pm while the report was scheduled to be released at 3.30 pm today.
During the hearing, the RTI Commission asked why the petitioner came up with the objection only at the last moment and what was the basis for the petitioner’s fear. The petitioner’s counsel replied that if something happens tomorrow. The Right to Information Commission has stated that the report will be released to ensure privacy and the name of the petitioner should not be released. The commission told the court that testimony on privacy was also excluded and only 233 pages of the report were being released. The government also contended that the petition is not maintainable.
But the petitioner contended that none of those who sought the report were part of the proceedings and that the report was being sought to gain fame. The RTI Commission replied that the petitioner is not a party to the Hema Committee report and there is no public interest in the petition. The commission also stated that the public information applicants were given a notice regarding the exempted sections related to privacy.
The commission asked the petitioner to state that he was speaking on behalf of someone else and how the publication of the report would affect the petitioner. But the petitioner argued that the report should be kept confidential and Justice Hema himself had informed the government that the report should be kept confidential. The petitioner said that none of the appellants had testified before the commission.
The Right to Information Commission pointed out in the court that this is a report decided to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly and every citizen has the right to know the reports tabled in the Legislative Assembly or Parliament.
The Right to Information Commission had earlier directed that the privacy of individuals should not be affected while releasing the report and the Government Secretary should ensure full compliance.
