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
- Any citizen
of India can seek information.
- The
application is to be made to an officer of the public authority who is
designated as Central Public Information Officer (CPIO).
- All the
public authorities have designated their Central Public Information
Officer and have posted their particulars on their respective web-sites.
- 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.
- The
application can be made in English or Hindi.
- The
application can be sent by email, post or personally delivered at the
address of the public authority.
- No reason is
necessary to be given for the request of information.
- 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.
- If the
person does not complete the formalities of fees, the application would be
invalid and no information would be supplied on the same.
- If the
application concerns to a different public authority it be transferred by
the receiving authority within 5 days of receipt.
- 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.
- If the
request is rejected, reasons to be given by the Public Authority.
- 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
