Economic
Times: Mumbai: Thursday, 30 October 2014.
A recent
department of personnel and training (DoPT) memorandum, directing all
ministries and government departments to upload applications received under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act and replies given on their websites, has opened
a Pandora's box.
Owing to lack
of clarity in this circular, several RTIactivists and legal experts fear the
process may result in disclosure of applicants' names and endanger them. Some
others, though, say such a disclosure is in the interest of transparency.
Uploading RTI
applications and replies (including appeals) is expected to bring in
transparency. Further, it will avoid queries on information already available
in public domain. However, the DoPT memorandum dated October 21 makes no
specific mention of whether information seekers' personal details will be
revealed while uploading their queries, thus sparking off fears.
If names are
revealed, there are fears that RTI activists could face attacks. Till date,
around 42 RTI activists have been murdered and over 300 assaulted, says
Venkatesh Nayak, RTI activist and programme coordinator at the Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative.
"India
doesn't have overarching privacy laws like the UK's Data Protection Act,"
says Nayak. In the UK, replies to queries given to applicants under the Freedom
of Information Act (akin to our RTI Act) are uploaded with applicants' names
blanked out. However, RTI applicants' identity could possibly be protected by
an earlier DoPT memorandum issued on January 6, based on a Calcutta high court
order.
This order
held that applicants need not disclose any personal details while filing RTI
queries, other than their post office (PO) box numbers. Government bodies could
insist on personal details, only if they are faced any difficulty with the PO
box number. In this scenario, though, the court stated: "It would be the
solemn duty of the authorities to hide such information, particularly from their
websites so that people at large would not know of the applicant's personal
details."
However, a
high court order, unlike that of the Supreme Court is not the law of the land.
"DoPT's memorandum based on the Calcutta high court order and its recent
memorandum are only binding on the DoPT. It would only have 'persuasive powers'
on other government departments and ministries. Thus, a ministry can choose to
upload RTI queries with or without applicants' names or choose not to upload
any RTI query, because DoPT's OMs strictly speaking are only guidelines and not
law," says Nayak.
TOI spoke
with a few officials from various ministries who agree that a clarification
regarding disclosure of the applicant's name would be helpful.
"If
India wants to protect RTI activists' identity, it must amend the RTI Act or
pass a government-notified rule on the matter," adds Nayak.
Opinion is
divided on the need to do so. "Responses to RTI queries are public
documents. Information should be denied only as per exemptions in the Act and
no general exemption can be sought for the names of RTI applicants," says
Shailesh Gandhi, RTI activist and former Central Information Commissioner.
"Everyone
who takes on powerful interests, whether or not they use RTI, put themselves in
danger. Why should RTI activists have separate protection? We are trying to
create better systems for all and not create a new class of VIPs," says
Gandhi.
"If very
sensitive information is asked for we are aware of the fact that it is usually
not provided by the PIO and during the process of appeals the applicant's name
is leaked to the affected party. Unfortunately, this will continue irrespective
of whether peoples' names are on government websites. A very few (probably less
than 1% to 2%) do use RTI to harass officers or get a favour. Displaying the
RTIs would deter them," he says.