Moneylife: Pune: Saturday,
April 19, 2014.
RTI is the
only act that allows you to enforce your
rights without moving out of your home, says Shailesh Gandhi, former Central
Information Commissioner (CIC)
Sometimes,
simple Right to Information (RTI) applications lead to significant results,
said Shailesh Gandhi, former Central Information Commissioner (CIC) addressing
Moneylife Foundation members today. The key is to keep trying different things,
you never know what may work, he said, giving the example of how his simple RTI
request seeking information led to decisive action agaisnt a police official
who was accused of rape.
Mr Gandhi
went though the key provisions of the act and provided important tips on how to
file effective applications and carry forward the demand for information
through first and second appeals. He explained at length the rationale behind
various provisions as well as what information can be provided under the act
and what cannot. For intance, he said, the RTI act is only meant to provide
information to a citizen as her right, but one cannot demand an explanation for
various actions or decisions. Similarly, information that is already available
on record can be provided, but a citizen cannot ask for information to be
gathered or collated under the act.
Mr Gandhi
pointed out that the RTI Act derived its power from the short and succint
Section 3 which states, “Subject to the provisions of this Act, all Citizens
shall have the Right to Information.” He explained how Section 4 gives a person
to right to inspection of documents and was “the heart of the RTI Act” . Mr
Gandhi, who evangelises the use of RTI by ordinary people, firmly believes that
when a larger number of citizens demand information, the government will be
under pressure to put out a lot more information out in the public domain and
on their website, leading to a substantial reduction in inefficiency and
corruption.
Mr Gandhi
also explained what sort of information cannot be obtained under the act and
the exemptions to disclosure of information
set out in section 8 and section 9 of the act which allows some
applications to be rejected.
This time, Mr
Gandhi also informed his audience about another important statute in
Maharashtra that could empower citizens tremendously, when used in conjunction
with the RTI Act. He said most people were not even aware of the existence of
this legislation called the ‘Government Servants Regulation of Transfers and
Prevention of Delay in Discharge of Official Duties Act (Act 21 of 2006)’,
whose strict provisions of action could lead to better governance and delivery
of timely services if citizens filed application under its provisions.
In case if
any RTI application is not taken, false information is given, there is
non-compliance with section 4, excessive
fees are asked for etc a first appeal to the First appellate authority can be
made within 30 days and the second appeal within 90 days of the order.
According to Mr Gandhi, certain bottlenecks
which impede the effectiveness of this act are lack of a culture of
transperancy, awareness of the law and the slow pace of the Information Commission mainly.
RTI is an act
which provides public information and brings transparency and efficiency in the
system. It leads to SWARAJ- a true
participatory democracy. It is a tool which can be used to bring about a
difference sitting at home. So its time that enough of us try and make
democracy more meaningful.
At the
closing, Mr Shailesh Gandhi emphasised that we all need to work together to make our nation a perfect
place. He said, "Mera Bharat mahan nahi hai, Per yeh dosh mera hai!" inspiring the audience to start taking
action.
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