Times of India: Thiruvananthapuram: Monday, May 5, 2025.
The state govt has excluded
its GST intelligence and enforcement wing from the ambit of the Right to
Information (RTI) Act, effectively shielding a crucial revenue enforcement body
from public scrutiny. The exemption, issued through a gazette notification
under Section 24(4) of the RTI Act, mirrors a step taken by the Centre, but it
has been pointed out that the central agencies deal with national security and
allied matters.
Besides claiming that the
exemption is in the "larger public interest" to protect the
confidentiality of ongoing probes and intelligence sources, the notification
dated April 21 cites the central decision to exempt its Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence (DRI) to cover intelligence work for Central Goods and Services
Tax.
"There is no national
security angle here. GST enforcement is about financial compliance, not
sensitive intelligence. The larger public interest lies in disclosure, not in
secrecy... This only protects those wishing to avoid scrutiny," former chief
information commissioner Vinson M Paul said.
The govt has cited
provisions of the GST Act that allow exemptions from disclosure earlier also to
restrict public access to governance data. These include denial of information
on several assembly questions on alleged tax evasion by private firms, including
CMRL that was accused of making monthly payments to chief minister's daughter
Veena T and her firm.
In one such case, chief
information commissioner V Hari Nair, criticised the GST department for
refusing to reveal the GST payment details of a private company, Santamonica
Study Abroad Pvt Ltd. In the Oct 2024 order, the CIC said the department
wrongly classified the requested GST information as confidential third-party
information under the RTI Act and clarified that there is no bar in sharing the
GST payment details of the firm as public information since the details are
available with a public authority.
Furthermore, the CIC
asserted that Section 152 of the CGST Act doesn't impede providing information
under RTI. He emphasised the need to balance the right to information and
privacy, and concluded that disclosing tax information does not equate to
revealing commercial secrets.
The state already has a
troubled record with transparency as critical reports with serious public
implications remain shielded. The Hema Committee report on the film industry,
the probe into the child adoption controversy involving a CPM functionary's daughter,
and the contributory pension review report all commissioned using public funds have
either been denied or delayed in response to RTI requests and legislative
questions.
The govt's handling of
"Operation Palm Tree," an anti-tax evasion drive, is an example of
its opacity. In response to an assembly question in March 2025, the department
said data collection was still underway. However, a news release from the same
department, issued earlier on May 23, 2024, announced unearthing Rs 1,170 crore
in fake transactions, a tax loss of Rs 209 crore and identification of 148 fake
GST registrations under the same drive. If the news release suggested a
completed probe, the assembly response suggested otherwise.
Transparency advocates see
this as representing a deeper problem where the legislature and public receive
conflicting narratives on the same issue, undermining accountability. "We
now have a situation where a critical enforcement wing is insulated from
scrutiny, and routine disclosures are treated like classified state secrets,
setting a dangerous precedent," a senior official said.
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