Telegraph India: Ahmedabad: Thursday, March 22, 2018.
The Right to
Information Act raised the promise of a true participatory democracy with
empowered citizens. It also raised the hope of citizens being treated with
respect and dignity by the public servants. A unique provision for penalizing
public officials who did not provide information to the citizens within 30 days
gave the law its teeth. It exempted only specific categories of information and
recognized the sovereignty of the individual citizen and his/her ownership of
government by mandating that a citizen needed to give no reasons for seeking
information. It is one of the best transparency laws in the world which can
bring accountability in governance and reduce corruption. Citizens started
using the law with great enthusiasm and also teaching and facilitating others.
However, of
late, there are some signs that the law is stagnating and regressing in its
impact. We must be aware of these. The main cause for this is that the law
challenges the arbitrary actions of those in power.
Public
servants are blocking RTI requests by flouting the letter and spirit of the
law. Public information officers use various means to delay and frustrate the
citizen seeking information. Most of these actions are not sustainable in the
law, but most Information Commissions do not use the powers provided in the law
to curb this. The penalty provision is used very rarely. Besides, in many
Information Commissions, the waiting period is from six months to six years.
This emboldens public servants to deny citizens their fundamental right to
information which is enshrined in Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution. This
is largely owing to the fact that the selection of information commissioners is
a completely arbitrary and non-transparent exercise. The commissioners should
be selected by a transparent process and made accountable to ensure disposals
of all cases within 90 days.
The law is
allegedly being grossly misinterpreted to dilute the effect of its provisions.
A further threat is from the fact that all actions and information of public
servants are now sought to be exempted from disclosure by claiming that these
would be tantamount to invasion of their privacy.
Another major
cause of worry is the branding of regular RTI users and activists as
'blackmailers and extortionists'. A corrupt and undemocratic campaign is being
sustained to brainwash the nation into believing that most RTI users are rogues
and undesirables. In this atmosphere, violence and murder of RTI users are
being justified. Those who verbally disparage RTI users are responsible for the
violent attacks. A myth is being created and irresponsible statements are being
made, claiming that RTI is being misused to obstruct national development and
integration or to destroy the peace, tranquillity and harmony among citizens,
and is being converted into a tool of oppression or intimidation of honest
officials striving to do their duty. Most citizens are intimidated and
humiliated by arrogant officials. As a part of this illegal, unconstitutional
attempt, official proclamations are now being made declaring some persons as
persona non-grata and denying their fundamental right to information.
It is
recognized that there is widespread, debilitating corruption in the nation and
all the institutions of the State are unable or are unwilling to curb it. The
right to information has provided citizens a chance to curb the arbitrariness
and corruption of those in power. There is now a conscious, systematic and
orchestrated attempt to emasculate this power that citizens have got. If
citizens are allowed to properly access information available with the
government, they will be able to monitor its actions and hold public servants
accountable.
The situation
can easily be corrected by appointing information commissioners through a
transparent and accountable process and by citizens monitoring their decisions
and performance. Displaying all RTI queries and responses by PIOs on the
website would do away with the possibility of any blackmailing. This has
actually been mandated in an office memorandum of the DoPT (no. 1/6/2011-IR of
April 15, 2013). If all the guidelines of this office memorandum were followed,
RTI applications would be cut by half.
RTI is at a
critical juncture in our nation. We have one of the best laws in the world, but
there are serious threats to it from many in power. If citizens and the media
are vigilant, we can defend this and see better governance, reduction in
corruption and respect for the individual citizen.
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