Gandhinagar: An order by Gujarat Information Commission (GIC), stating that the document containing the names and signatures of members present at a gram sabha cannot be provided because it could be misused for financial and other frauds, has angered RTI activists. The order was passed on April 22 by chief information commissioner Subhash Soni over an appeal before the commission.RTI applicant Raman Parmar had sought information about the names of persons who attended a gram sabha at Adaas village on May 20, 2025. He approached the commission as he was not granted the information.The CIC rejected the appeal, citing Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act, which exempts public authorities from disclosing information that would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific, or economic interests of the state, relations with foreign states, or lead to the incitement of an offence.Former state information commissioner (Madhya Pradesh) Rahul Singh has written a mail to the Gujarat CIC, raising legal questions against the decision. “The apprehension that the disclosure of signatures may facilitate financial fraud is speculative and unsupported by law. Signatures of public functionaries and citizens routinely appear on numerous public documents maintained by govt authorities. Such a hypothetical possibility cannot become a ground to deny access to an entire public record,” he said in the mail.Singh added that strengthening transparency in the functioning of gram sabhas would reinforce public confidence in Panchayati Raj institutions and further the constitutional vision of participatory democracy. “Villagers should not be deprived of access to records relating to the functioning of their own gram sabha, particularly when these concern public meetings conducted under statutory authority,” he wrote.Retired information commissioner, Central Information Commission, Shailesh Gandhi has also written a letter to the state CIC, requesting that the order be reconsidered.“The order by the Gujarat Information Commission saying that information containing signatures can be misused in financial fraud and therefore cannot be shared under Section 8(1) (j) is anomalous and mistaken. By this logic, no official correspondence with signatures on it would be shared with citizens, and this would become like one single weapon to destroy RTI,” he said in the communication.Pankti Jog, executive secretary of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel, said that basic documents like a register of members present at a gram sabha should be provided in the interest of transparency.
