CIC upholds DoPT’s non-disclosure to RTI
NEW DELHI: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has upheld the Department of Personnel and Training’s (DoPT) refusal to share minutes of meetings headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to select the country’s anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal, under the Right to Information Act, saying the Supreme Court had also refused to direct the government to provide the said information.
The government appointed former Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Bose as the first Lokpal of the country on March 19, 2019. RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj filed an application with DoPT, seeking a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the committee that selected Bose.
The central public information officer (CPIO) of DoPT declined to share the information saying that the minutes of the Lokpal selection committee meetings were marked as “secret” and therefore, cannot be shared. The officer , however, provided details of when the selection committee meetings were held and who participated in them.
Bhardwaj, in her appeal before CIC, said that marking a file as “secret” is not a ground under the RTI law to deny information, and claimed CPIO had not used any provisions of the transparency law to deny the information sought. “Under the law, access to information can be rejected only on the grounds mentioned in section 8 or section 9 of the RTI Act. Secret is defined under the Officials Secrets Act, which is not applicable under RTI,” she said.
Rejecting her claim, information commissioner Saroj Punhani relied on two SC judgements to deny the information sought by Bhardwaj. The first was issued in a case related to the constitution of Lokpal by the Central government in 2014. The SC said with regard to prayer of lawyer Prashan Bhushan to put names recommend by search committee in public domain that no direction should be assigned in this regard. “Rather the matter should be left for a just determination by the selection committee as and when the meeting of the committee is convened,” the court said.
The second was regard to transparency in appointment of information commissioners by the central government. In its order in 2018, the SC said DoPT has put names of the applications for posts of information commissioners, names of members of the search committee, agenda of the search committee and minutes on its website, which shows the process was transparent.
In its order, CIC said that the process of selection commission of appointment of the information commissioners and the Lokpal is same in nature. “Therefore, the commission is of the considered view that in the instant matter, CPIO upheld the interest of transparency by informing the (RTI) appellant regarding all the details of the selection committee and its meetings; hence the question of lack of transparency does not hold ground,” the information watchdog’s order said.
Nikhil Dey of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information said, “I would have liked CIC to address the concerns raised by Bhardwaj in its order. Now, SC (orders) will be a ground to deny information under RTI.”
BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Wistron Corp., the largest assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhones in India, said it will restart operations at its factory near Bengaluru after being forced to shut it down in December because of rioting by workers over unpaid wages.
Though Tuesday’s statement did not give a timeline for reopening the plant, two people aware of the developments said it could happen within a week. Wistron said it has now put in place new hiring and payroll systems.
Apple decided to suspend new business to Wistron until it fixed the problems that led to the December violence after an initial investigation by the US tech giant found several lapses by the Taiwanese company that delayed payments to some employees. Wistron produces Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone SE, among other products at the plant in Narasapura.
In a separate statement, Apple said, “For the past eight weeks, teams across Apple, along with independent auditors, have been working with Wistron to make sure the necessary systems and processes are in place at the facility.” Apple said that Wistron has completed corrective actions and restructured its recruiting team, but the iPhone assembler will continue to remain on probation and its progress in implementing changes will be monitored closely.
“As Wistron begins the process of hiring team members and restarting their operations, everyone at the facility will undergo a new training pro
gramme to ensure they understand their rights and how they can raise any concerns. Apple employees and independent auditors will remain on-site to validate that the new processes are effective,” the statement said.
Senior Karnataka government officials said that police verification of around 6,000 employees was completed and licences have been reissued to Wistron.
The restarting of the Wistron facility will be significant for Apple, which has been pushing hard to boost its market share in India. As part of the company’s efforts, Apple launched its official online store in India in September and may later open physical stores.
Industry experts said that the urgency shown by Apple in resolving the issues at the facility near Bengaluru was driven by the need to restore supply at a time its market share was on the upswing.
“India is now a serious destination on Apple’s radar, not only as a market but also from an ecosystem
development point of view. This move clearly outlines their intent that they want to grow and have a stable base out of India,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst, techARC.
The American tech giant’s efforts to introduce cheaper models such as iPhone SE and iPhone XR and iPhone 11 in a price-sensitive market have paid off, with Apple’s market share in India doubling to 4% in the December quarter.
iPhone SE (2020) was the most shipped iPhone in the December quarter, accounting for 30% of all iPhone shipments, while iPhone 11 with 27% and iPhone XR with 14% shipments were the other two sought-after models in India, according to Counterpoint Research.
Apple started making iPhones in India in 2017 with Wistron as the primary supplier. In 2019, Foxconn started making iPhone XR units at its Chennai plant. iPhone 11 was added to the production line in 2020.