Role and Scope of RTI

DISCLAIMER: The article provided below is a compilation of information from various sources. The references to the sources are provided at the end of the article. The views and/or facts expressed below are in no way related to the compiler. The blogger or the compiler shall not have any responsibility on the credibility of the information provided. This is an effort to help students during COVID-19.

WHAT IS RTI?

RTI stands for Right to Information. Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information. Right to Information empowers every citizen to seek any information from the Government, inspect any Government documents and seek certified photocopies thereof. Right to Information also empowers citizens to officially inspect any Government work or to take the sample of material used in any work.

 As per the RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from any “Public Authority”. The Public Authority then has to provide the requested information or a reply within 30 days of receiving the RTI application

A “Public Authority” is defined as a body or authority established or constituted by order or notification of appropriate government including bodies “owned, controlled or substantially financed” by government. Non-Government organizations “substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds” provided by the government are also covered in the Act.

Right to Information is a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19 (1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression.

What is Information According to RTI?

“Information means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force.”

How it all started?

It all started in Rajasthan, with the demand for right to information in a small village in 1987. A few labourers were refused their wages because of inconsistency in their performance. The labourers were soon joined by Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS), an activist group which demanded that the government produce required proof to check for the workers’ performance records.

Post a lot of protests, the MKSS finally received the copies of rolls, which also highlighted the corruption among the officials. This discrepancy provoked MKSS to carry out protests demanding the right to information.

The initial draft of Right to Information – RTI

In 1996, the MKSS organized a 40 days protest in Beawar with over 100 activist groups. These later formed the National Campaign for people’s right to Information (NCPRI) which prepared the initial layout of the Right to information act along with the press council of India. Read more about this here.

This was not all. Until recently there were protests in various states. for the clearing and rightful implementation of the Right to Information Act. The Maharashtra protest led by Anna Hazare in Maharashtra, the New Delhi protest started by Arvind Kejriwal and the efforts in Rajasthan by Aruna Roy and Shekhar Singh are few of the protests that took place.

RTI Act - First Iteration at the Freedom of Information Act, 2002

The initial National Freedom of Information Bill 2000, merged with the draft prepared by the Shourie Committee in 1997, was unsatisfactory, but was passed in December 2002, as the Freedom of Information Act 2002.

The Role of National Advisory Council

The UPA Government came into power in May 2004, and started the National Advisory Council (NAC) to oversee the RTI act modification to make it more participatory to the general population.

The Final Version of the Right to Information Act (RTI act), 2005

This law – the Right to Information act - was passed by the Indian Parliament on 15th June 2005 and it came into effect on 12th October 2005.The first application was given to a Pune police station in 2005.

Objective of RTI Act?

The basic object of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make our democracy work for the people in real sense. An informed citizenry will be better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the instruments of government and make the government more accountable to the governed.

Importance of the Right to Information Act

●       This law empowers people to ask for information about central, state governments including non-governmental organizations which are substantially funded by the government.

●       The law gives citizens of India the tools to fight against corruption.

●       RTI gives people the right to hold the government and organizations substantially funded by the government accountable

●       The Right to Information Act gives citizens the right to ask for information and decide, based on the information received, whether their constitutional rights have been met.

●       This law arms individuals with information so that they can advocate for themselves.

Scope of RTI ACT

The Act is applicable to the whole of India. Earlier, J&K Right to Information Act was in force in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. However,after the revocation of much of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (and also the Union Territory of Ladakh) came under the Central Act also.It covers all the constitutional authorities, including executive, legislature and judiciary; any institution or body established or constituted by an act of Parliament or a state legislature.

HOW TO SEEK INFORMATION UNDER THE ACT

A citizen can seek information by the virtue of Section 6 and 7, which provide

1. Any citizen of India can seek information.
2. The application is to be made to an officer of the public authority who is designated as Central Public Information Officer (CPIO).
3. All the public authorities have designated their Central Public Information Officer and have posted their particulars on their respective web-sites.
4. This information is also available on the ‘RTI PORTAL’ (www.rti.gov.in). Persons seeking information can to refer to the web-site of the concerned public authority of the ‘RIT PORTAL’ for ascertaining the name of the concerned CPIO.
5. The application can be made in English or Hindi.
6. The application can be sent by email, post or personally delivered at the address of the public authority.
7. No reason is necessary to be given for the request of information.
8. The applicant is required to send a bankers draft, or Indian postal order of Rs. 10 along with application and any further fees would be intimated by the CPIO. However persons below poverty line are exempted from this provision but they have to furnish proof of belonging to the below poverty line.
9. If the person does not complete the formalities of fees, the application would be invalid and no information would be supplied on the same.
10. If the application concerns to a different public authority it be transferred by the receiving authority within 5 days of receipt.
11. The Central Public Information Officer/ State Public Information Officer is to give information or reject the request as soon as possible or within a maximum of 30 days.
12. If the request is rejected, reasons to be given by the Public Authority.
13. If the information sought concerns life or liberty of a person, it be furnished within 48 hours of receipt.

Private bodies

Private bodies are not within the Act's ambit directly. In a decision of Sarbjit roy vs Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Central Information Commission also reaffirmed that privatised public utility companies fall within the purview of RTI.[8] As of 2014, private institutions and NGOs receiving over 95% of their infrastructure funds from the government come under the Act.

Political parties

The Central Information Commission (CIC) held that the political parties are public authorities and are answerable to citizens under the RTI Act. The CIC said that seven national parties - Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI(M), CPI and BSP and BJD - has been substantially funded indirectly by the Central Government and have the character of public authorities under the RTI Act as they perform public functions. But in August 2013 the government introduced a Right To Information (Amendment) Bill which would remove political parties from the scope of the law. Currently no parties are under the RTI Act and a case has been filed for bringing all political parties under it.

 The Scheme of RTI Act

The Parliament recognized that proper and efficient functioning of a democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information and that such transparency is vital for checking corruption and to hold governance and their instrumentalities accountable to the citizens of the country. The Parliament was also conscious that random and uncontrolled revelation of information is likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the governance, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information.

 In its endeavour to balance out and harmonize these conflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of the democratic idea, the Parliament enacted the RTI Act. The object of the RTI Act is to set out a practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of public authorities.

Sec. 4 of the Act imposes an obligation on public authorities to maintain its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which facilitates the right to information under the Act.

 Sec. 6 of the Act entitles a person desirous of obtaining any information under the Act, to make a request in writing to the Central or State Public Information Officer specifying the particulars of the information sought by him. The applicant is not required to give any reason as to why he is requesting for the information.

Sec. 7 of the Act requires the Public Information Officer to either provide the information or reject the request for any of the reasons specified in Secs. 8 and 9 within 30 days of receipt of the request. If the Officer fails to give a decision on the request within 30 days, he shall be deemed to have refused the request.

Under Sec. 19, if a person does not receive a decision within 30 days or is aggrieved by a decision of the Public Information Officer, he may prefer an appeal to an Officer who is senior in rank to the Public Information Officer in that Public Authority.

A second appeal is provided for against the order passed in the first appeal before the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission as the case may be. The powers of the Information Commission are enacted in Sub-Sec. 9 of Sec. 19 which includes the power to require the Public Authority to compensate the complainant for any loss or other detriment suffered and/or to impose any of the penalties provided under the RTI Act.

●       Sec. 20 of the Act empowers the Information Commission to impose penalty on the Public Information Officer if the Commission is of the opinion that the Officer without any reasonable cause refused to receive an application for information or has not furnished the information sought for within the specified time under Sec. 7(1) or mala fidely denied the request for information or knowingly has given incorrect, incomplete or misleading information or destroyed information which was the subject of the request or obstructed in any manner in furnishing the information.

●       Sec. 22 of the Act is a non- obstante clause giving overriding effect to the provisions of the Act.

●       Under Sec. 25, the Information Commission is required after the end of each year to prepare a report on the implementation of the provisions of the Act during that year and forward a copy thereof to the appropriate Government.

What type of information may be obtained under the RTI Act?

The type of information which may be obtained is defined under section 2 (f) of the Act as any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, log books,   contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force.

INFORMATION THAT IS EXEMPT FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT

Another very important provision is Section 8 and 9 of the act is which provides the exceptions i.e. categories of information which is exempted from the purview of the act.

At the same time Schedule II of the Act contains the names of the Intelligence and Security Organizations which are exempt from the purview of the Act.

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS EXMPT FROM DISCLOSURE I.E. WILL NOT BE PROVIDED AT REQEST OF CITIZEN:

●       Information, which is expressly forbidden by any court of law or tribunal or the dispute of which may constitute contempt of court,

●       Information the disclosure of which would endanger life, or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purpose,

●       Information, which could impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders and also exempts Cabinet papers

The exemption of the organization, however, does not apply to information relating to allegations of corruption and human rights violations.

SC ON RTI FEES

SC: RTI Fees shall not Exceed Rs. 50/- per Application- In a case taken up by the Supreme Court, the Court has strictly directed that the fees for filling RTI application shall not exceed Rs.50/- and Rs. 5 for photocopying for all Government Authorities.

The Supreme Court’s response came in case filed by Common Cause, whereby the Petitioner had challenged the Allahabad High Court (RTI) Rules, 2006 on the ground that the same was in violation of several provisions of the RTI Act as Rule 4 of the impugned Rules stipulating a fee of Rs. 500/- per application was not in consonance with the scheme underlying RTI Act.

Controversies

The Right to information in India has been mired with controversies ranging from their use in political battles, asking for educational degrees of political rivals, or cases of blatant refusals to provide information on high-profile projects to allegations of misuse by civil society.

Attacks on RTI activists and protection suggestions

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) data points to over 310 cases across India where people were either attacked, murdered, physically or mentally harassed or had their property damaged because of the information they sought under RTI. The data throws up over 50 alleged murders and two suicides that were directly linked with RTI applications filed.

There is a consensus felt that there is a need to amend the RTI Act to provide for the protection of those seeking information under the Act. The Asian Centre for Human Rights recommends that a separate chapter, "Protection of those seeking information under the (RTI) Act", be inserted into the Act.

Protection measures suggested include:

●       Mandatory, immediate registration of complaints of threats or attacks against RTI activists on the First Information Report and placing such FIRs before the magistrate or judge of the area within 24 hours for issuance of directions for protection of those under threats and their family members, and periodic review of such protection measures

●       Conducting inquiry into threats or attacks by a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police/Assistant Commissioner of Police to be concluded within 90 days and we also use RTI and get its benefit.

Intellectual property rights

Many civil society members have recently alleged the subversion of the right to information Act by the invocation of Intellectual Property rights argument by the government agencies from time to time.

Most notable are:

●       The Right to Information denied by RBI on Demonetization citing Intellectual Property Laws.

●       The Right to Information Denied by Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department after more than 8 months of a wait on under construction Gomti Riverfront Development Project. A group of researchers requested for environment Impact and Project Report on the project which is flagged for negative impacts, tax money wastage by environmental scientists and research reports.

Amendment

The Right to Information Act 2019 passed on July 25, 2019 modified the terms and conditions of service of the CIC and Information Commissioners at the centre and in states. It had been criticized as watering down the independence of the information commissions.

Supreme Court judgement

Supreme Court of India on 13 November 2019, upheld the decision of Delhi High Court bringing the office of Chief Justice of India under the purview of Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Judgment 1: CBSE Vs. Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011) 8 SCC 497

Judgment 2: Girish Ramchandra Deshpande Vs. Central Information Commission & Ors. (2013) 1 SCC 212

Judgment 3: Karnataka Information Commissioner Vs. PIO (HC) Unreported Judgment

Judgment 4: R.K. Jain Vs. Union of India JT 2013 (10) SC 430

Judgement 5: Canara Bank Versus CS Shyam and ors. Civil appeal no. 22 of 2009

  

RESEARCH AND COMPILATION BY:

Deepika Saini, 49

Utkarsha Ahirwar, 922

Komal Singh, 304