Centre to have relook at RTI

Daily Pioneer: New Delhi: Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

The Centre has decided to review the implementation of the Right to Information Act and asked the States to report on the bottlenecks faced in processing applications in order to make the Act more accessible to people.

The timing of the decision has surprised many as it comes close on the heels of the announcement by the Prime Minister on the misuse of the Act in invading privacy of an individual. Lately, the Department of Personnel and Training, the nodal Ministry dealing with RTI law, even introduced rules restricting the word limit in RTI applications to 500.

However, the DoPT denied that the initiative intended to clip the power of citizens under RTI. “It is not to amend the Act. We are seeking views of States in terms of assessing accessibility to people and how to make its usage more useful. How we reach to large number of people in remote or tribal areas,” said DoPT Secretary PK Misra.

DoPT officials have shot letters to the States and Union Territory administrations to furnish details on the basis of applications received and bottlenecks observed by them. In addition, the Government has sought views from each State and UT on various matters related to implementation of the transparency law.

When asked the time-frame within which the States are expected to reply, Misra said, “No time limit has been given. We will try to take their views into consideration.”

Earlier this month PM Manmohan Singh had said that citizens’ right to know should be circumscribed if it encroaches on an individual’s privacy. “There is a fine balance required to be maintained between the right to information and the right to privacy, which stems out of the fundamental right to life and liberty. The citizens’ right to know should definitely be circumscribed if disclosure of information encroaches upon someone’s personal privacy. But where to draw the line is a complicated question,” the PM said.

The DoPT recently notified new RTI rules in which it put a limit of 500 words for filing an application under the Act and devised a new format for filing an appeal to the Central Information Commission (CIC) under the 2005 Act. It was also made mandatory for an appellant or his authorised representative to appear before the CIC either in person or through video-conference, as per the RTI rules notified on July 31.

The RTI Act, which was enacted in 2005, covers disclosure of information on almost all matters of governance. Although there are a set of exceptions prescribed under the Act, judicial activism coupled with a vibrant CIC has expanded the ambit of RTI extending to file noting, annual confidential reports and examination papers.