RTI Analysis

Context:

Activists have expressed concerns that the Right to Information (RTI) system is gradually becoming less effective, potentially diminishing its role in holding public officials accountable.

More about the news:

The Chief Justice of India recently directed the information commissioners to be proactive in abiding by disclosures as mandated under the RTI Act.
The RTI platform has seen significant structural changes like removal of the signing up process to create an account followed by repeated warnings of deletion of old, unused accounts.
Removal of the signing-up form to create new user accounts disallowed people from creating a new account and made tracking RTI applications complicated.
All RTI applications dated before 2022 were removed suddenly without prior notice leading to concerns about the possible loss of valuable information.

Salient Features of RTI Act:

Right to Information: The act gives an important right to the citizens of India to seek information from the public authority, such as government organizations, department, local bodies etc.
- Any citizen can file an application in writing or electronically, addressing the concerned public information officer (PIO).
- PIOs are officers designated by the public authorities in all administrative units or offices under it to provide information to the citizens requesting for information under the Act.
Timely response: Upon receiving an application, the PIO is required to respond within 30 days.
- In exceptional cases where the information concerns a third party, the response time is extended to 45 days.
Right to Appeal: The Act recognizes the right to appeal for both the applicant and the PIO.
- If an applicant is not satisfied with the response received or does not receive a response within the stipulated time frame, they can file an appeal with the first appellate authority.
- If the applicant is still dissatisfied with the decision of the first appellate authority, they can approach the Information Commission, the final appellate authority.
Disclosure Obligations: Public authorities must disclose information related to their organization, functions, decision-making processes, and public schemes.
Exemptions: While promoting transparency, it provides specific exemptions to defense and security-related matters, trade secrets, personal information, and cabinet proceedings.
Whistleblower Protection: It includes provisions for whistleblower protection to encourage whistleblowing and safeguard those who expose corruption or wrongdoing.
- It prohibits the disclosure of the identity of the whistleblower and provides penalties for any harm caused to them.
Information Commissions: It provides for the constitution of the Central information commission (CIC)at center and state information Commission(SIC) in the state.

Significance of the act:

Fundamental Right to Information: It provided a legal framework to access information held by public authorities, empowering individuals to exercise their right to know and be informed about government activities.
- Replying to an RTI, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had informed that 23,000 cases of fraud have been reported by various banks in the past five years, which involved Rs 1 lakh crore.
Strengthening Democracy: It promoted transparency, accountability, and citizen participation by ensuring that citizens have the means to hold public authorities accountable for their actions.
- An RTI revealed that the RBI did not agree with the Centre on its justification that the demonetisation would curb the circulation of black money and counterfeit money.
Curbing Corruption and Promoting Good Governance: By providing access to information, it increased transparency in government operations and exposed instances of corruption and maladministration. Ex- Revelation of Adarsh Society Scam
Enhancing Efficiency and Effectiveness: The availability of information through the act reduced bureaucratic delays, improved service delivery, and promoted better decision-making by public officials.
- An RTI filed by a non-profit organization revealed that the Delhi government had diverted Rs 744 crore from funds earmarked for the welfare of the Dalit community to the Commonwealth Games.
Empowering Marginalized Sections of Society: It provided them with a mechanism to access information, claim their entitlements, and fight against discrimination or neglect.
- In Assam, an RTI request revealed irregularities in the distribution of food meant for people below the poverty line. The allegations of corruption were probed and several government officials arrested.
Setting a Global Example: Its success in promoting transparency, accountability, and citizen empowerment inspired many nations to enact their own RTI laws, contributing to the global transparency movement.
RTI legislation in India served as a template for law implementing in Bangladesh and acted as a standard for NGOs that advocate for changes to or adoption of their national laws.

Challenges of the act:

Lack of software accountability: Lack of accountability within all government institutions i.e.even if there are solutions to the problems, they are not implemented.
- The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) did not give any actual explanation in response to the RTI request by the Internet Freedom Foundation filed in 2021 about the discontinuation of the signing-up form.
Neglect of Suo Motu disclosures: The authorities have apathetically ignored suo moto disclosures especially those related to health, migrant laborers, finances etc.
- For example, the query submitted to the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to obtain information about the voluntary disclosure of actual access to the PM Garib Kalyan Yojna.
Harassment and victimization of RTI officers and activists: They lack adequate protection and maintenance of records in the offices.
- A 30-year-old RTI activist faced a brutal assault for his sustained work exposing corruption in projects granted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Kumpaliya panchayat.
- As per Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) report, more than a dozen RTI activists have been brutally attacked in Rajasthan alone over the past 10 years.
Defunct Commission: Jharkhand and Tripura State Information Commissions (SIC) have become non-functional due to the absence of new commissioners being appointed after the previous ones left their positions.
Backlog of appeals: Large backlog of appeals and complaints in many commissions across the country have resulted in inordinate delays in disposal of cases, which render the law ineffective.
- As per SNS, 14,323 appeals and complaints were pending as on June 30, 2022, in the 26 Information Commissions.
- The commissions did not impose penalties in 95 per cent of the cases where penalties were potentially imposable.
Infrastructural bottlenecks: Errors in payment processing and the general unresponsiveness of the portal have made the portal practically unusable.
- While these issues are not new, DoPT has never acknowledged its responsibility to fix them.
Data protection bill of 2019: It amends the RTI Act and gives exemption to disclosure of any information to any RTI applicant on the ground of personal data.
- In a way, it is denial of the right to information.
- The CIC, in two separate decisions, had directed that information to queries on PM and CM Relief Funds must be given but the matter is pending in the high court since 2018.

RTI and political parties:

Under the RTI Act, political parties do not fall under the category of public authorities.
The government is of the view that parties cannot be compelled to disclose their internal functioning and financial information under the RTI Act.
It would hamper smooth internal working and fester into a weak spot for political rivals with malicious intentions to take advantage of the disclosed information.

RTI vs Official Secrecy Act(OSA) 1923:

The RTI contradicts OSA which fosters a culture of secrecy and withholding information, thereby curbing the freedom of information.

Way Forward:

Protection to whistleblowers: India needs to put in place long-term measures to prevent the assaults on whistleblowers starting with timely and effective investigation.
- The central government has not yet enforced the WhistleBlowers Protection Act enacted by Parliament in 2014.
Redefining exemptions: The existing exemptions are quite broad and need to be refined and made more specific.
- Information even remotely linked to national security is currently being categorically denied, whether it pertains to matters like leave and working conditions or details regarding transfers within the armed forces.
- To enhance the robustness of the RTI Act, the authority to expand the list of exemptions, currently permitted through executive order under Section 24, should be exclusively granted to the legislature.
Filling vacancies: According to Transparency International, one-fourth information commissioner posts are vacant and there are only 5% (only 8) women information commissioners in the country.
- Out of total 165 posts of information commissioners, 42 are vacant, including two chief State information commissioners.
Robust RTI machinery: RTI queries increased by 83.83%, from 8,86,681 in 2012-13 to 16,30,048 in 2018-19, indicating the rising faith of our people in the RTI system.
- The relevant portals need updating with suo motu disclosures bolstering the RTI machinery.
Active tool for citizens: Instead of turning the citizens into passive consumers of information provided by press releases, the RTI Act should become a formidable weapon in the hands of the citizens.