OCTOBER 19, 2015

By M G Kodandaram

FOR aglorious democracy to exist, the protection of human rights of all citizens and fair practice of rule of law, in which the justice is rendered equally to all the citizens,are the primary requisites.The citizens have a fundamental right to be informed about how they are being governed so that any shortcomings in governance are addressed and set right. In this regard Article 19 of our Constitution provides its citizen 'right to Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech etc. which is essential for a healthy democracy. The Supreme Court in State of U.P vs. Raj Narain (AIR 1975 SC 865) held that the 'right to know' is a right inherent in Fundamental Right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. Later, in plethora of cases the Apex court recognized that the right to information is a right implicit in the article 19(1) (a) and in article 21 (fundamental right to life and personal liberty). Again the Supreme Court in Peoples Union for Civil Liberties vs. Union of India, ((2004) 2 SCC 476) observed that Right of information is a facet of the freedom of 'speech and expression' as contained in Article 19(1) (a) of our Constitution. Right of information is thus indisputably a fundamental right which has been asserted and recognized by the judiciary.

It is always true that an informed citizenry and transparency of information are vital for effective and successful functioning of any Republic. It is a practice for a Public Authority to take its own time in providing information to the public or abstain from providing such information citing Official Secrets Act.Deficiencies in service would go unnoticed as there was no mechanism to get timely information from the government departments. I t is not possible for a citizen to approach the judiciary every time for obtaining orders directing the required information to be provided by the government in a time bound manner. Further the judiciary cannot be expected to handle such voluminous requests that could arise. The huge number of cases pending in various judicial and quasi-judicial forums is a clear indicator that Indian justice system will not able to cope up with this requirement. Therefore,to bring in a regime wherein a citizen can access information from government and its related functionaries in a practical and definitive way and to secure access to information from such Authorities in a time bound manner, Indian Parliament enacted the Right to Information Act, 2005 which came into force from 12th October 2005. There is no doubt that the RTI Act has made a significant impact in these 10 years, but how to make the best use of this sunshine legislation is the main issue that needs to be deliberated on this occasion.

The main objectives of the RTI Act are (i) to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority and (ii) to set up a practical regime for giving citizens access to information that is under the control of public authorities. As per Section 3 of RTI Act, 2005, all the citizens shall have the Right to Information and, therefore, it is a powerful tool that can deliver significant social benefits, provide a strong support to democracy, promote good governance, by empowering the Citizen's ability to participate effectively and hold Public Servants accountable. It has also served to be an effective watchdog ensuring all those coming within the purview of the Act to work in accordance with rules and regulations, without any irregularities.

At present, the RTI Act is passing through a decisive phase and much more needs to be done to facilitate its growth and development. In the meanwhile, some citizens, to seek cheap publicity and popularity, are using the 'RTI way' which has resulted in denial of early justice to the genuinely distressed citizen seeking information for a useful remedial purpose. It is becoming more and more common of the so-called RTI activists to file huge number of applications with the sole goal to seek some information, which may not be relevant and of use to anyone. The information so obtained is not being used for serving any public interest except to enable such person to boast about the number of applications filed as a record. This has resulted in increase of unproductive work to public authority as well as to the Central and State RTI Commission. This has lead to unproductive expenditure to the government exchequer and has resulted in increase in number of cases pending decisions at various Central and State RTI forums, which is causing undue delay to the genuine information seekers.In this regard a note of caution has already been sounded by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Dinesh Trivedi, M.P. vs. UOI ((1997) 4 SCC 306 (para 19, page 314) ) by stating, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but it is equally important to be alive to the dangers that lie ahead. It is important to realize that undue popular pressure brought to bear on decision makers in Government can have frightening side-effects. If every action taken by the political or executive functionary is transformed into a public controversy and made subject to an enquiry to soothe popular sentiments, it will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on the independence of the decision maker who may find it safer not to take any decision. It will paralyse the entire system and bring it to a grinding halt. So we have two conflicting situations almost enigmatic and we think the answer is to maintain a fine balance which would serve public interest.” But the misuse of RTI continues.

Recently, in respect of one such applicant who has filed 437 appeals/applications,the Karnataka State Information Commissioner has named him an abuser of the RTI Act,recommending a two-year prohibition on all his cases.The decision by the Information Commissioner relies on several Supreme Court, High Court and Central Information Commission decisions, before blacklisting the applicant as the information sought by him appeared to have no public interest and were clear instances of misuse of the Act. The Commissioner further observed that a single person filing such huge number of applications, when the Commission was already burdened with a task to redress over 30,000 complaints, adversely affects the speedy justice to an individual who files one or two appeals under normal circumstances. The Commission has opined that repeated appeals affect the social justice for others. The Commission observed that in a few cases, a few people are misusing the Act for personal interests and self glorification, which is derailing the practical regime set out to provide information for the real seekers with some positive purpose. This is a formidable tool to fight corruption in governance and it should not be allowed to be misused or abused, so that it can remain rendering speedy justice.  The Hon Supreme Court in the case of Central Board of Secondary Education and another v/s Aditya Bandopadhyay has cautioned that the Act should not be allowed to be misused or abused, to become a tool to obstruct the national development and integration, or to destroy the peace, tranquillity and harmony among its citizens. Nor should it be converted into a tool of oppression or intimidation of honest officials striving to do their duty.

As per RTI Act, it is not required to provide reasons for seeking any information which is understandable. But this should not be exploited by such activists by asking unwanted information. It is also important for the public authorities to provide information as per section 4 of the RTI Act suo-moto and to review/revisit regularly such information published, so that necessary information about their departments are available to a citizen readily on the website with little scope for applications under RTI.

Further the best purpose for using the RTI way can be the following:

i)  to address deficiency/delay in service delivery.

ii)  to expose abuse of power/authority, arbitrary decision making etc.,.

iii)  to seek information that can used for advocacy and other purposes.

It is the responsibility of every seeker of information under the Act to be aware of the purpose and apply for information for such use only. Every citizen should realise that RTI is a key component in the attainment of economic, social and political rights of an individual as well as the community at large and to be utilised for betterment of governance. There is a need for exhibiting restraint and wisdom by the applicant before proceeding for obtaining such information.

(The author is a Faculty at the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics (NACEN), Bengaluru and the views expressed are strictly personal.)