Right To Information - Some Explanations

“Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression are meaningless, and ceases to exist, until Freedom of Information is granted” said Mr.G.Ramakrishnan, Public Information Commissioner, at the session on Right to Information Act organized by Young Indians at the SIEMA conference hall, Coimbatore on 15th December.

The Right to Information (RTI) act, claimed by the government as the Brahmastra of the aam admi in knowing the functioning of the government, is still unpopular among the public. The organizers said that this is one of the steps in creating an awareness about the act.

The session, attended by people of various walks of life, including those from 5th pillar India an active anti corruption movement, various human rights, consumer and social activists and surprisingly a considerable number of students proved to be highly informative and provided first hand information about the act.
Mr.G.Ramakrishnan, a retired IAS officer, traced the history of the act, the powers it provides to the commoner and some shortcomings of the act too.

History of the Act:

India is the 57th democracy to implement the RTI act. Spain was the first democracy to implement this act way before in 1756. Well, you may ask about non democratic countries? Let they introduce freedom of speech first!! :)

Mr.Rajnarayan was the forerunner in RTI act in India. A renowned social activist, Mr.Rajnarayan had asked the UP government details about the security being provided to Mrs.Gandhi when she was visiting the state for election campaign. It is notable that Mr.Rajnarayan was contesting against Mrs.Gandhi in those elections. The UP government, declared that those information were classified and could not be parted with.

Later, Mr.Rajnarayan moved the Supreme court and in the verdict of the Rajnarayan vs Uttarpradesh government, the supreme court said that the information that the petitioner seeks is public and has to be disclosed to the public.
It was because of Aruna Roy, a renowned social activist and a Civil servant who resigned her job that this act came into existence. When the Rajasthan government introduced the Food for Work scheme, many people raised questions about the details of the act and the details of the beneficiaries, which the government refused to provide with. After a series of widespread agitations by people, the government provided the information. It was found that, 75% of the beneficiaries of this act were either dead or still to be born!!

It was after this particular incident that the government realised the need for a Right to Information act. A separate committee under the head of Mr.H.T.Shourie was formed. However, due to the political instability in the centre between 1997 and 2005, this act didn’t gain much momentum. In 2002, the freedom of information act was passed but failed to meet the real objectives.

On June 21, 2005, the Right to Information act was passed in both the houses of the parliament. Part of the act came into existence on the same day and part of the act came into existence on October 2005.

About the act:

The act is very simple and contains only 31 clauses. The main objectives of the act are transparency, accountability and minimizing corruption.
There is a Public Information Officer (PIO) in every office. People who need information have to fill the requested information in a white sheet (No specific formats required) affix a stamp for Rs.10 and submit it to the PIO. The PIO has to provide the petitioner the information within 30 days failing which the matter can be taken to the 1st appellate authority. Even if the 1st appellate authority fails to provide the information, the Public Information Commissioner will look into this matter.

The beauty of this act is, if an information seeker seeks information from a PIO and the information does not relate to the department of PIO, the PIO cannot reject the petition. It is the duty of the PIO to gather information from the concerned department and to provide it to the petitioner.
If the information has to be collected from various departments, the PIO has to collect it from all the departments and give it to the petitioner. This is the most important power of this act.

Information that are not to be provided:

Under RTI act, the following information are not to be provided:

Matters concerning security, integrity and sovereignty of the country, commercially confident matters, fiduciary information, copyrighted information, Memorandum of Understandings, file notings, case diaries, course of investigation of a case while investigation is still going on and information of private nature are exempted under this act.

Shortcomings of the act:

Though the act is supposed to help the commoner, Mr.Ramakrishnan expressed dismay over some people using this act in a wrong manner. He mentioned cases where some ‘motivated petitioners’ had asked information like Invoices of all the expenses incurred by a panchayat during a reign, all the resolutions passed by a council for the past 5 years etc., which are not relevant to the interest of public.
Mr.Ramakrishnan also observed that the funding and manpower allocation to the Public Information Commission was still in the hands of the State government which could be a hindrance in the independent functioning of the body. He expressed the need for direct funding from the planning commission.

It is of no doubt that this act is an extremely powerful tool in eliminating corruption. It is upto the people to use it wisely and sensibly.

I left the SIEMA building with a joyous heart of having spent a saturday evening constructively :)