PNS|Hyderabad
The Telangana High Court asked the State Government to explain what purpose the Right to Information (RTI) Act–2005 will serve if the government fails to give details sought by a Member of Parliament.
Dealing with Malkajgiri MP TPCC President A. Revanth Reddy’s petition alleging that the officials concerned are not providing information about the Outer Ring Road (ORR) Toll-Operate-and-Transfer (TOT) Asset Monetisation Scheme tenders although he had applied for information about that on June 14, the High Court expressed anger over it and asked the State Government to reveal why it is not providing information to the petitioner.
Delivering the judgement on Friday the High Court asked the State Government to explain how opposition leaders will speak in the Assembly if they are not provided the requested information as per law.
However, the Advocate General informed the High Court that the government is ready to provide the details sought by the Malkajgiri MP. The High Court directed the State Government to provide the information sought by Revanth within two weeks and posted the hearing to August 4.
It may be recalled that Revanth Reddy filed a petition in the High Court alleging that Hyderabad Metropolitan Development (HMDA) officials did not respond to his petition seeking information about ORR tollgate tenders.He said in his petition that the behaviour of officials concerned is nothing but a violation of the RTI Act and Article 14 of the Constitution.
He mentioned in his petition that he had applied for information for the first time on May 1, but the officials concerned provided only basic information on May 23.
Revanth also mentioned in his petition that he had once again applied for information on June 14 seeking information about ORR lease reports, the Cabinet decision about giving the 30-year lease, the revenue the government earned in the year 2021-22 and 2022-23 and the tender process for giving responsibility for ORR maintenance on lease for 30 years to find out whether the deal was done in a transparent manner.
Revanth cited officials of the Municipal Administration and Urban Development, HMDA and the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) as respondents in his petition. He appealed to the High Court to direct the respondents to provide the information he had sought.
It may also be recalled that the State Government took a decision to hand over maintenance of the ORR and toll collection to IRB Infrastructure Development Limited and the IRB Golconda Express Highway Limited.
