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`Information Act will empower people'

Staff Reporter

An answer to the ills affecting governance: says Vice-Chancellor

KANNUR: The Right to Information Act will empower people as access to information it ensures is set to be an answer to the ills affecting governance, such as corruption, which stand in the way of the country becoming developed, according to experts.

Inaugurating a seminar organised by the Kannur University School of Legal Studies here on Monday, Vice-Chancellor P. Chandramohan said though the country had much potential for great development, poverty continued to be a major problem.

He said the Act was important because it provided a system for accessing information and lodging grievances when information was denied.

It was foolproof to a great extent.

Delivering the keynote address, Director of the school Sheena Shukkoor said that though Article 19 (1) of the Constitution bestowed on people the right to information, the governments had been invoking privileges to counter this right.

Describing the Right to Information Act as a counter to the Official Secrets Act, Ms. Shukkoor said that it would make the concept of open government a reality.

The university's Controller of Examinations, K.P. Jayarajan, who was the moderator of the seminar, said the governments, bureaucracy and the people had to reconcile their minds to the presence of this Act.

The advocate T. Asafali said the Act would make the people real masters of the country.

District Panchayat Vice-president M.C. Raghavan; Kannur Bar Association president C. Krishnan; Indian Medical Association president P.V. George; the lawyer T. Nizar Ahmed; and S. Balachandran of All India Radio participated.

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