The RJD’s Ramdeo Bhandhari had got permission from Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to speak on the recent Tehalka expose when the House was adjourned. Although Shekhawat said he did not think much of the report since ‘‘Madhu Srivastava and Zahira Sheikh are both denying the allegations’’, he allowed Bhandari to speak, but reminded him that the matter was sub-judice. BJP members like Venkaiah Niadu protested that the House should discuss more serious matters like ‘‘suicide of farmers’’ and not ‘‘trivial ones like the Best Bakery.’’Somnath scoldsSpeaker Somnath Chatterjee pulled up Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar and MoS for Personnel and Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri in the Lok Sabha. The Speaker said he had not called her name when Meira Kumar began to lay some papers on the table. When she said this was on behalf of her deputy Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, the Speaker said she must seek his permission first.‘‘I have pulled her up,’’ he told JD(U) member Nitish Kumar, who raised an objection over Meira Kumar’s action. ‘‘This is the second time, when he is absent,’’ Mukherjee remarked when he found that Pachouri was not around to introduce the Right to Information Bill. Pranab Mukherjee promptly got up to express regret over the absence of his junior colleague. Pachouri also apologised when he showed up later.Information BillThe Government introduced the Right to Information Bill, 2004, which proposes to give common people access to official information. The Bill also proposes the setting up of a Central Information Commission. The important changes proposed in the Bill include the establishment of an appellate machinery with investigative powers to review decisions made by public information officers, as well as penal provisions for failure to provide information as per the law. The Government has decided to repeal the older Act.
