MHA REFUSES TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AVAILABLE WITH CENTRAL GOVT ON CHANGE OF NAME OF THEN GURGAON DISTRICT IN HARYANA TO GURUGRAM IN THE YEAR 2016, SECTION 8(1)(E) OF RTI ACT, 2005 INVOKED WHICH DEALS WITH INFORMATION HELD BY A PERSON IN FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIP,INTERESTINGLY, HARYANA GOVT NOTIFICATION ISSUED IN OCT, 2016 MENTIONED CHANGE IN NAME OF ONLY GURGAON CITY TO GURUGRAM– ADVOCATE HEMANT KUMAR
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The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has refused to provide the official information available with Central Government granting its consent in the form of NOC (No Objection Certificate) or otherwise to the State Government of Haryana in the year 2016 with respect to change of the name of then Gurgaon District to Gurugram.
An Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court,Hemant Kumar, on 18 April 2023 by filing an online RTI sought the aforementioned information from MHA. After over a month, the Advocate received response signed by G.Parthasarathi, Joint Secretary (CS-II) who is also CPIO in CS Division of MHA where it has been mentioned that the MHA processes proposals received from the State Governments for renaming of villages, towns, railway stations as per the extant procedure. The information regarding proposals is fiduciary in nature. Thus the same is exempted from disclosure under Section 8(1) (e) of the RTI Act, 2005.
Hemant is highly surprised over the denial of the above information by MHA since firstly there seems to be no element of confidentiality in such name change exercise. Moreover, since the name of then (erstwhile) Gurgaon district in Haryana has been already changed to Gurugram since the year 2016, hence such proposal of Haryana Government as sent to MHA has attained finality, hence now there is no legal embargo/prohibition under RTI Act, 2005 to disclose such information.
Hemant is highly surprised over the denial of the above information by MHA since firstly there seems to be no element of confidentiality in such name change exercise. Moreover, since the name of then (erstwhile) Gurgaon district in Haryana has been already changed to Gurugram since the year 2016, hence such proposal of Haryana Government as sent to MHA has attained finality, hence now there is no legal embargo/prohibition under RTI Act, 2005 to disclose such information.
The Advocate also told that over three years ago in March, 2020, in response to a question asked by Rajya Sabha by Derek O' Brein of TMC, the Union Home Ministry provided the entire list (details) of total 67 proposals received from different State Governments across the country pertaining to period from Jan, 2017 to Feb, 2020. Such list is also available online i.e. it is in public domain. However, since the case of name change of Gurgaon to Gurugram pertains to the year 2016, hence the same
was not included in the above reply of MHA tabled in Rajya Sabha, so Hemant sought such information
by preferring RTI application with MHA.
Pertinent that even a Proviso in Section 8 of RTI Act, 2005
provides that the information, which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person, quips Hemant.
Meanwhile, it was seven years ago in April 2016 that the Manohar Lal Khattar led BJP dispensation in Haryana announced with much fanfare its decision to rechristen (rename) the name of then Gurgaon district, also termed as the Millennium City, to Gurugram.
Reportedly, the proposal of the State Government was then sent to the Central Government for necessary approval since it is the MHA which finally either grants NOC to such name change proposals or else declines the same.
Be that as it may, it was reported in the media during Sep-Oct, 2016 that MHA has granted its assent to Gurgaon renaming as Gurugram. Ever since then the new name Gurugram is being mentioned and quoted especially in official documents except in case of Gurgaon Parliamentary Constituency (Lok Sabha Seat) currently being represented in 17th Lok Sabha by Rao Inderjit Singh who is also Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Modi Sarkar as well in case of Gurgaon Assembly Constituency (Vidhan Sabha Seat) which is currently being represented in 14th Haryana Vidhan Sabha by BJP MLA Sudhir Kumar Singla. The name Gurgaon is still being used in lieu of Gurugram in case of both these Constituencies by respective Houses.
Hemant told that when he traced & read the Gazette Notification pertaining to change of name of Gurgaon to Gurugram as issued under the seal & signature of then Additional Chief Secretary cum Financial Commissioner to Government of Haryana, Revenue & Disaster Management Department, Keshni Anand Arora & which was also published in Haryana Government Gazette Extraordinary dated 14 Oct 2016 he found that the same only mentions the change in name of Gurgaon City to Gurugram rather than changing the name of (entire) Gurgaon district to Gururgram.
Now if this has been an inadvertent omission or else, it remains to be seen & thoroughly inquired into. However what is more surprising is that this grave omission hasn't come to the notice of anyone including any Government or Political functionary ever since the issuance of aforesaid Notification over six & a half years ago, asserted Hemant.