RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT 2005

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By Akash Pandey :

Every government in India came into power on a plank of corruption. Corruption is a problem that affects all citizens directly. If we see when the elections are announced then every party starts giving promises that their party will make India corruption-free but never has any government taken this promise seriously so what can we do as citizens? Do we have any power? Do we make the government accountable? The answer is yes we can, but the question is how? In 2005 the government of India enacted the Right to Information Act which gives the right to citizens that they can demand information from any public authority of their workings.

HISTORY

In the Lok Sabha election of 1977, this, political commitment to the right to information was given, which resulted from the public resentment against the suppression of information, press censorship, and abuse of authority during the internal emergency of 1975. The Morarji Desai led Janata Party government of 1977 in its election manifesto promised “an open government” and declared that it would not misuse the intelligence services and governmental authority for personal use to this commitment, Morarji Desai constituted 1977 a working group to confirm if the Official Secrets Act, 1923, could be modified to facilitate greater flow of information to the public. But the working group brought out with no change this recommendation shut the doors to transparency and openness. In 1986, the Supreme Court in the famous case of Mr. Kulwal v. Jaipur Municipal Corporation gave a clear cut directive that Freedom of Speech and Expression provided under Article 19 of the Constitution implies Right to Information as without information the freedom of speech and expression cannot be fully used by the citizens. In 1989, the National Front Government renewed its commitment to the right to information. It was an outcome of the people’s frustration over the earlier government’s reluctance to part with the information relating to Bofors and other deals. Reintegrating this commitment, the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh, in his first broadcast to the nation in December 1989 said, We will have to increase access to information. If the government functions in full public view, wrongdoings will be minimized. To this end, the Official Secrets Act will be amended and we will make the functioning more transparent. The right to information will be enshrined in our Constitution. Sadly, despite such strong commitment, there was no way towards transparency and openness in their governmental functioning due to the early fall of the National Front Government. In 1994, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)[ an organization for worker’s rights) started a grassroots campaign for Right to Information – demanding information concerning development works in rural Rajasthan. This movement grew and the campaign resulted in the government of Rajasthan enacting a law on Right to Information in 2000. In 1996, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), one among several civil society groups, was founded to get legislation on RTI passed. In 1997, Tamilnadu became the first state in India to have passed a law on the Right to Information. In pursuance of the commitment of the National Democratic Alliance, the new coalition to implement its National Agenda on Governance, introduced the Freedom of Information Bill, 2000 in the Parliament. After having been pending for about two years the Bill was finally passed by the parliament on 4th December 2002 and it received the assent of the President of India in January 2003. Meanwhile, instead of waiting for central legislation, half a dozen states have enacted their laws on the catalog information (RTI Act). These include Goa (1997). Tamil Nadu (1997), Rajasthan (2000), Maharashtra (2000), Karnataka (2000) and Delhi (2001). In 2004, the UPA government appointed a National Advisory Council to monitor the implementation of government schemes and advise the government on policy and law. NAC recommended changes to the existing Freedom of Information Act, 2002. RTI bill 2004 was tabled in parliament as applicable only to the Union Government. The civil society protested against the bill as most of the information required by the common man was from state governments. After heavy lobbying by NCPRI (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information) and other organizations, the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act] was passed with 150 amendments. The right to information is a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constitution. Thus, the government enacted the Right to Information act in 2005 which provides machinery for exercising this fundamental right.

Right to Information Act of 2005

On 15th June 2005 information act came into force the fact that the government is of the people of India. The first transparency law was made in Switzerland. The act is one of the most important acts which empowers ordinary citizens to question the government and its work. This has been widely used by citizens and media to uncover corruption, progress in government work, expenses-related information, etc. All constitutional authorities, agencies, owned and controlled, also those organizations which are substantially financed by the government come under the purview of the act. The act also mandates the union government or state government’s public authorities to respond to the citizens’ request for information. The act also imposes penalties if the authorities delay in responding to the citizen in the stipulated time.

Objectives of the RTI Act

The Act extends to the whole of India. It covers all the constitutional authorities, including executive, legislature, and judiciary; any institution or body established or constituted by an act of Parliament or a state legislature. It is also defined in the Act that bodies or authorities established or constituted by order or notification of appropriate government including bodies “owned, controlled or substantially financed” by government, or non-Government organizations “substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds”.

Private bodies

Private bodies are not within the Act’s In a decision of Sarbjit Roy vs Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission,  the Central Information Commission also reaffirmed that privatized public utility companies fall within the purview of RTI. As of 2014, private institutions and NGOs receiving over 95% of their infrastructure funds from the government come under the Act.

Political parties

The Central Information Commission (CIC) held that the political parties are public authorities and are answerable to citizens under the RTI Act. The CIC said that seven national parties – Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI(M), CPI, and BSP and BJD – have been substantially funded indirectly by the Central Government and have the character of public authorities under the RTI Act as they perform public functions. But in August 2013 the government introduced a Right To Information (Amendment) Bill which would remove political parties from the scope of the law. Currently, no parties are under the RTI Act and a case has been filed for bringing all political parties under it.

Supreme Court judgment

Supreme Court of India on 13 November 2019, upheld the decision of the Delhi High Court of Jan 10, 2010, bringing the office of Chief Justice of India under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A five-member bench led by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi agreed in principle to share information but on a case-to-case basis and subject to RTI safeguards.

Important Provisions

under section 2 (j) of the RTI Act, Right to Information means the right to access information as per the provisions of this Act, which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to; inspection of the work, documents, records; taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records; taking a certified sample of material; obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or any device.

Section 3 of the Act gives the right to information to every citizen.

Section 2 (i) of the Act includes-

  • Any document, manuscript, and file;
  • Any microfilm, microfiche, and facsimile copy of a document;
  • Any reproduction of image or images embodied in such microfilm (whether enlarged or not); and
  • Any other material produced by a computer or any other device.

Hence from the reading of the above-mentioned definitions along with section 3 in totality makes it clear that the citizens have the right to access all those information which are held by or under the control of any public authority. How these terms have been defined under the Act shows that it has been done for the sole reason of concretizing the people’s right to information so that no information can be denied by the public authority for the want of clarity as to what all information can be provided under the Act. It is mandatory to provide all such information as defined under Section 2 (f) and Section 2 (i) to the public as and when needed by them.

Section 2(f) defines the term “information” which means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advice, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and also include information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force.

Section 8 (3) specifically mentions the time duration of 20 years after which the person can access such information and the same would not amount to the violation of the right to privacy with that information. The Section provides that the public authority has to disclose the information when requested by the individual under Section 6 if such information relates to any occurrence, event, or matter which has taken place, occurred, or happened twenty years before the date on which any request is made by such individual.

In Greenhood cooperative housing society ltd v. State of West Bengal, It is observed that any information falling under Section 8 (3) shall be made available when requested and such disclosure shall not amount to infringement of the right to privacy. In other words, such disclosure cannot be challenged on the grounds of breach of privacy rights.

The grounds on which information may be denied under Section 8 (1) of the RTI Act, 2005 are:

  1. The information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect sovereignty and integrity of India, security, the strategic, scientific or economic interest of the state, relation with the foreign state or lead to incitement of an offense;
  2. The information, publication of which, is expressly forbidden by a court of law or tribunal, and disclosure
  3. Of which may constitute contempt of court;
  4. The Information, disclosure of which, would cause a breach of privilege of the Parliament or the State Legislature;
  5. The Information is related to commercial confidence, trade secrets, or intellectual property and the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of the third party unless the competent authority is satisfied that the public interest warrants disclosure of such information;
  6. The information available to the person in his fiduciary relationship unless the competent authority is sissified that larger public interest requires disclosure of such information;
  7. Information received in confidence from the foreign government;
  8. Information, the disclosure of which, would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source or assistance given in confidence for enforcement of law or security purposes;
  9. Information, if given, would  impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders;
  10. Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other Officers;
  11. Any information which is personal and has no connection and relation  to any public activity or interest or which would cause unwarranted invasion into  the privacy of the individual
  12. Notwithstanding any of the exemptions listed above, a public authority may allow access to information, if the public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interest.

Certain organizations have been exempted from the provisions of the act as mentioned in the Second Schedule namely certain Intelligence And Security. However even in such organizations if there is some information relating to allegations of corruption or violation of human rights, such kind of information is not exempted. The concerned government can add or delete any organization from the Second Schedule. The right to information act 2005 being elaborative as it includes both the disclosure and non-disclosure of the information it has an overriding effect over all the laws that are inconsistent with the RTI Act.

The Right to information in India is governed by two major bodies:

• Central Information Commission (CIC) – Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their public information officers (PIO)s. CICs are directly under the President of India.

• State Information Commissions – State Public Information Officers or SPIOs head over all the state departments and ministries. The SPIO office is directly under the corresponding State Governor.

State and Central Information Commissions are independent bodies and Central Information Commission has no jurisdiction over the State Information Commission.

Fees

A citizen who desires to seek some information from a public authority is required to send, along with the application (a Postal order or DD (Demand draft) or a bankers cheque) payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority as fee prescribed for seeking information. If the person is from a disadvantaged community, he/she need not pay. The applicant may also be required to pay further fees towards the cost of providing the information, details of which shall be intimated to the applicant by the PIO (Public Information Officer) as prescribed by the RTI ACT

Attacks on RTI activists and protection suggestions

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) data points to over 310 cases[27] across India where people were either attacked, murdered, physically or mentally harassed, or had their property damaged because of the information they sought under RTI. The data throws up over 50 alleged murders and two suicides that were directly linked with RTI applications filed. R.T.I. Act 2005 applies to both central as well as state governments. It also covers the acts and functionaries of the public authorities.

There is a consensus felt that there is a need to amend the RTI Act to provide for the protection of those seeking information under the Act. The Asian Centre for Human Rights recommends that a separate chapter, “Protection of those seeking information under the (RTI) Act”, be inserted into the Act.

Protection measures suggested include:

• Mandatory, immediate registration of complaints of threats or attacks against RTI activists on the First Information Report and placing such FIRs before the magistrate or judge of the area within 24 hours for issuance of directions for protection of those under threats and their family members, and periodic review of such protection measures

• Conducting an inquiry into threats or attacks by a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police/Assistant Commissioner of Police to be concluded within 90 days and we also use RTI and get its benefit.

HOW TO FILE RTI

Submission of an application (section 6)-

  • Whoever requests information has to first apply to the concerned Public Information Officer of the concerned authority either in writing(English, Hindi, or local official language of the area) or through electronic means or email. Where the request is not in writing, PIO will assist to reduce it in writing.
  • The application should contain the applicant’s name, address, and particulars for a response in the prescribed format as mentioned in the rules.
  • The person seeking information is not required to mention the reason for seeking information.

Prescribed fee (section 7) –

  • The applicant seeking information has to pay a prescribed fee along with the application.
  • There shall be no fee for the person coming below the poverty line.
  • A review of the fees could be sought by the applicant through an appeal to the concerned Appellate Authority.
  • Applicants shall be provided with the information free of cost if there is a failure to respond within the time limit as mentioned in the RTI Act.

Response time (section 7)-

  • In normal cases- after the receipt of an application by an applicant the concerned PIO shall provide the information to the applicant within 30 days from the receipt of an application.
  • In case of life and liberty of person- in such cases, the PIO shall provide the information within 48 hours from the receipt of application to the applicant.
  • where the application is sent through the Assistant Public Information Officer or sent to a wrong public authority, five days shall be added to the period of 30 days or 48 hours, as the case may be.

In case of third party information(section 11)- if the information involves the interest of the third party then In case of Third party information, PIO gives written notice to the said third party within five days from the receipt of the request for information, stating that he intends to disclose the information and whether the information sought should be supplied or the third party has any objections regarding the same and while deciding the RTI application, such submission is taken in consideration, to decide whether the PIO should provide the information sought or not. The third-party is required to file the representation within 10 days from the date of receipt of such notice either in writing or orally. After receiving the oral or written submission from the third party and if the PIO decides in favor of the applicant the PIO within forty days (40) after receipt of the request under section 6 shall furnish the information to the applicant.

  • No response to the application within the time limit is deemed refusal.

Appeals-

  • If the PIO fails to furnish the information within the time prescribed for the information as mentioned above or if the applicant is not satisfied with the information given to him, the applicant can prefer an appeal to the First Appellate Authority who is an officer senior in rank to the PIO, within 30 days from the date on which the time limit prescribed for providing the information gets expired or from the date on which the information or decision of the PIO is received.

If the first Appellate Authority fails to decide the appeal within the prescribed time of 30 days or if the applicant is not satisfied with the order of the First Appellate Authority, he may prefer a second appeal to the Central Information Commissioner within 90 days from the date on which the first Appellate Authority should have decided the case or the date on which the applicant had received the order of the court.

The procedure of filing an RTI

  • The aspirant must be a civilian of India.
  • The request must cover the details of facts and figures required.
  • The proof of payment of the application fee should be hemmed in.
  • The address of the aspirant should be accessible for directing a reply.

Private particulars excluding those essential for communicating an applicant are not required to be stated.

The Act proposes a simple process to acquire information. However, some public establishments have their specific formats; there is no obligation to stick to the prescribed setup.

  • Classify the constituent part one wants to have information from since some matters fall under the purview of State governments and some to local authority such as the municipal administration/Panchayat, while others are controlled by the Central government.
  • The application can be submitted either by hand or type, in English, Hindi, or the official language of the area. One can also take the assistance of the public information officer to put the application in writing.
  • The application must be addressed to the State/Central Public Information Officer. Provide the name of the concerned office from where you wish to seek information, and the complete, exact address.
  • Mention your request in the specified form and state the period/year your application falls into. To get documents, the applicant is required to make a payment of Rs. 2 per page.
  • Payment of Rs 10 is required to plea the request either by cash, bank draft, money order, or a court fee stamp. The application must bear the stamp. Applicants below the poverty line (BPL) are excluded from making any sort of payment provided they attach a copy of the BPL certificate along with the application.
  • Your full name and address, contact details, the email address should be mentioned, and sign the application properly.
  • Send your application either by post or hand it over in person to the concerned department.
  • The law mandates that information should be provided within 30 days. If this does not happen, one can file an appeal. The first appeal should be addressed to ‘The Appellate Authority’ mentioning the name and the address of the department. The appellate authority is required to revert within 30 days from the date of receiving the appeal. If the Appellate authority fails to do so, then further appeals lay with the Information Commission, the Chief Information Commissioner, State/Central Information Commission.

Procedure to file RTI online

At Online RTI, lawyers hired are specialists at handing out RTIs, so one need not fear about it. Just click on your problem, submit your application, and your case will be considered at the top of the government’s row.

Certain Guidelines

  1. The only fresh application can be filed online.
  2. The aspirant is required to mention the necessary details, by clicking on “Submit Request”.
  3. Once the form is duly filled, then next comes the making prescribed payment either through debit/credit cards of Master/Visa or using RuPay card. Once payment is made, the application can be submitted.
  4. On positive submission of an application, a unique registration number will be dispensed, to the applicant for future references.
  5. For the first appeal to the First Appellate Authority, the applicant is required to click on “Submit First Appeal” and then fill up the page that will appear.
  6. For the first appeal no payment to be made.
  7. The applicant should provide his/her mobile number to receive an SMS alert.
  8. Applicants can view the status of their first appeal by clicking on “View Status”.

Links to File RTI: HTTPS://RTIONLINE.GOV.IN/      

https://rtionline.gov.in/guidelines.php?request
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