Deccan
Herald: UP: Tuesday, 28 July 2015.
Chief
Information Commissioner Vijay Sharma, a retired Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS
officer of 1974 batch, describes RTI Act as “game-changer”, saying it has
upgraded the transparency and accountability of system since its enactment in
2005. “Public Information Officers and appellate authorities, however, are
required to be more sensitive towards the need of an information seeker. They
should also be protective of the people seeking information under the RTI Act,”
he told Deccan Herald in an interview to Prakash Kumar. Excerpts:
How do you
look at the journey of RTI Act so far?
The journey
has put us in a position where we now have a very wide experience of the RTI
applications and reasons why applications are made to get information. It has
brought us to a position where we can say we have been able to upgrade our
transparency and accountability systems. Not only have we substantially
upgraded our transparency and accountability systems, we have also enabled the
use of technology for easily accessing information. We are today able to access
information, much more easily than what we did in past. The biggest
contribution of the RTI Act is that it has been a game changer in changing the
attitudes.
What are
the challenges?
The challenge
comes how much of the information sought under the RTI Act has been usable from the point of view of the
information seeker. The usability, relevance and timeliness of that information
is also very important. Many of the RTI applications are coming from
individuals who really want information. That information is vital to such
individual as it may redress a grievance or upgrade a public service system. It
could be filed for combating any kind of corruption, petty or otherwise.
And, there
are RTI applications, which are needlessly flippant or vexatious. Some RTI
information seekers also file repetitive applications. Our concern today is how
to ensure that the genuine RTI applications do not get crowded out because of
such applications which could be repetitive, frivolous or complex.
So what is
the solution you propose?
We need to
have a mechanism which is efficient enough to be able to identify applications
which are bottlenecking and clogging the system. It should be rule based
objective system to filter flippant and repetitive RTI applications so that
genuine RTI applications do not get crowded out. Such rules should be effective
and legally tenable. The applicants should know that if they file repetitive or
unnecessary RTI applications, the system would throw them out and subject them
to a bit of scrutiny. Today, we don’t have such rule based filter. All the RTI
applications are considered. Public authorities are under pressure.
But don’t
you think such a system may be misused by the public authorities?
That’s why I
said there has to be a rule based mechanism, which is objective and legally
tenable. A lot of people are saying that there is a problem of repetitiveness
of RTI applications. The problem has to be recognised and addressed. Most of
the RTI applications are not complex. They need genuine information and the
public authorities provide it. An application becomes complex when the
applicant gets into interrogation mode and starts seeking clarifications from
the public authority. There have been such complaints.
Many say
getting information under the RTI Act is more difficult today than few years
back. What is your view?
My assessment
is that if the information is available, the public authority do not resist.
They give information. Value systems have changed. I say this because I have
been in the system. Ten years ago, there was resistance. The moods have
changed. Annual confidential entries which were really confidential in past, is
completely out in the open today.
If it is
so, why do we have piles of appeals?
Those, who
are involved in day to day handling and management of the RTI applications,
need to be properly trained and sensitised. This is one of the areas where I
would like to work on. The public information officers (PIOs) and at least the
first appellate authorities, must be sensitive towards the needs of the
information seeker, instead of being too technical. They need to be caring
persons. Even if the department is little short of the documents, the needs of
information seeker can be addressed. The PIOs should find the solution.
There are
demands to bring CBI under the ambit of RTI. What is your view?
What
essentially you are saying may be there is a need to revisit of what is on the
exempted list. The RTI has induced a lot of openness and transparency. If there
is a debate on whether there is scope for further rationalisation, it’s a good
idea.
Safety of
RTI activists is a big concern today. What measures should be taken to check
such incidents?
So far as the
incidents of attack on RTI activists are concerned, our criminal judicial
system is taking care of such cases. Here again, however, the role of PIOs are
significant. There should not be any tendency to deny information. It increases
tension between an RTI applicant and the information provider. The department
should not only be an information provider but be protective of the information
seekers.
What is
the future of RTI Act?
S far as the
entitlement and rights of the information seeker is concern, the Act is bound
to go stronger and stronger. Technology will play a major role in creation of depositary
of information and its sharing. The adversariality between the information
seeker and provider is bound to get mitigated.