RTI effect: Govt to release Lokpal tapes

In a concession to Team Anna, the government on Sunday agreed to make the audio recordings of proceedings of the Joint Committee public(The Joint Drafting Committee, comprising five members of Team Anna and an equal number of Cabinet ministers, was formed to finalise the draft of the Lokpal Bill. for more information click here)  
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had earlier refused to bring out the deliberations of the Committee in public domain, saying it would need the Law Ministry's nod. The new position was revealed when an RTI activist was told he could get access to the audio recordings.

What is also important is the government will not be releasing all the details in these audio tapes, there will be some kind of selective release and this has come essentially because of the RTI application that was filed by Subhash Agarwal, who wanted all the details, particularly the audio clippings of the closed door meeting that happened between Team Anna and the 5 members of the cabinet be released and made public.

But it's clear that the government will be cautious in not releasing anything that can affect the draft of the Lokpal Bill and it has made it clear that this has been done only after the law ministry gave its nod to the DoPT that it can go ahead and release these audiotapes

However team Anna member and former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde is skeptical about the Government move to release the audio tapes of joint Lokpal panel's meetings, expressing fears that the CDs could be "edited". 

However, Anna Hazare has welcomed the government's decision and said the public had the right to know the truth.

Sources: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govt-concedes-to-rti-query-releases-lokpal-tapes/191510-3.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Santosh-Hegde-fears-Lokpal-audio-clips-may-be-edited/articleshow/10293142.cms