10 years of RTI:An in-depth analysis

What is RTI:

“An informed citizenry and transparency of information are vital to the functioning of democracy and are also necessary to contain corruption and to hold govt. accountable to public”.With this objective RTI(Right to Information Act ) was enacted in 2005.Based on three pillars i.e. good governance,transparency,accountability  it provided the right to access the information.It represents a radical departure from earlier British Raj opaque, secretive  bureaucratic practices to freedom of information.

Influence:

• Supreme Court in various judgements interpreted Article 19 and Article 21 and ruled that freedom of information must be read as a fundamental right embodied in ‘right to life’ and ‘freedom of speech and expression’.
• Moreover originated firstly in Sweden(1766) and now available in more than 85 countries, Freedom of Information Acts have now become and international standard of modern democracy.
• Further the consistent process of education people and interconnectedness(through globalisation ) have forced the government to take this proactive step.

Functioning:

• The Act is applicable to govt. at all level(Union,states,local) and even includes NGOs which are financed by government  either directly or indirectly.
• The Act entrusts the duty on “Public authority” to maintain their records as specified by the RTI Act and provide information to public as per their demand(except those which affects security,sovereignty,international relations etc.)
• It also have provision for appointment of CIC(Central Information Commissioner) and SIC for Union and States respectively to monitor the implementation of the Act.

Evaluation: 

The most radical provision of this Act is that it had done away with the locus standi clause and under it anyone(like RTI activist) can seek information for public interest.With this provision RTI has proved to be the revolutionary Act giving the uneducated rural people to have access to information.In last one decade many scams(Adarsh housing scam) have been exposed,expenditure on minsters and bureaucrat's foreign trips have been revealed and people came to know about the assets of their elected representatives through RTI. 

Further CIC has taken many proactive steps like

• Directed UPSC to declare individual marks and cut off in prelims.
• In Paramveer Singh vs Punjab University case,held that every public authority must manage records efficiently to provide information accurately.
• In Ram Bhaj vs Delhi govt. set guideline for redressing the grievances of citizens.

With all these progressive provisions and steps there are some structural and functional lacuna in the Act which are defeating the very objective of the Act.

Structural issues:

• RTI obligates public offices to appoint PIO(Public Information Officer) but doesn’t prescribes any criteria for qualifications leading to non-efficient person to do PIO job.
• The 30 days clause(i.e. information should be given within 30 days ) sometimes becomes impractical owing to public holidays, administrative assignment(election).
• It has been provided that PIO should provide information in official language designated by state but the administrative terminology many times become unreadable to people.
• Lack of uniformity in various PIOs of similar departments across different states often creates confusion among applicants who seeks information from various states.
• Exemption to file notings(except for social and developmental projects) from the purview of Act have also attracted the criticism as file notings state the rationale of the project.

Functioning  issues:

• It provides information on demands but many survival information like food, water, environment  are not automatically provided by PIOs.
• Section 26 of the Act says that govt. should educate the masses about the objective, process but it is not happening as weaker section are hesitating to apply RTI to involve in any govt. process.
• Section 4 requires maintenance of computerized records but it is not happening due to unavailable infrastructure and technically illiterate manpower.
• There is also widespread misuse of RTI.Use of abusive languages in application,misuse of BPL status(as information is free to BPL),false claims of public interest, blackmailing for vested interest have been witnessed in many cases.
• There is also no provision for fine or any other penalty for misuse of Act(though it was done not to discourage people to participate in this process).

Recent Issues:

• Delay in appointment of CIC leading to pendency of cases. Moreover recent data from CIC shows that CIC is turning down the  request.Though CIC has stated that it is not rejecting the request but is returning for proper identification.
• Govt.’s lukewarm response to CIC’s step. Exempting the CBI and non conforming the recent demand  for bringing political parties under the scanner of RTI has been described by critics as “regressive step”.

Need of hour:

Enactment of RTI has established the foundation but the edifice will depend on its proper implementation. It requires empowering people through awareness, change of bureaucratic mindset by taking it as duty rather than just a job, removing the structural lacunas and the most important political will. Then only the true objective of vibrant and participatory democracy would be achieved.