MHA fails to provide information about merger agreement under RTI
7 Jul, 2013
Accession of Manipur State to India was completed by signing of Manipur Merger Agreement between the Governor General of India and His Highness, the Maharaja of Manipur in 1949. Clause 3 of Article 8 of the agreement says, “The Government of India also undertakes to make suitable provision for implementation of Manipuri in various branches of public service and in every way encourage Manipuris to join them.”
However, when an application was filed with the Judicial and PP Division of Ministry of Home Affairs under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information about the steps taken by the Government of India to fulfill the undertaking, the ministry failed to provide the information to the applicant.
The reply to the application, provided by the PIO of the Home ministry, states that the demanded information was not available with it and explained that the ministry had no intention of concealing the information. The applicant has said that he would approach Supreme Court for implementation of the undertakings mentioned in the Article VIII (3) of Manipur merger agreement.
On January 21, 2013 the Ministry of Home Affairs was requested to implement the undertakings mentioned in the particular clause of the Merger Agreement through a representation.