Hindustan Times: National: Sunday, July 09, 2017.
In 2015,
activist Lokesh Batra filed a Right To Information (RTI) application with the
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking details about the
appointment of the next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). But the DoPT
refused to share the information, saying that the process of appointment was
still on and the information was part of “cabinet papers,” which are exempted
from disclosure.“I had in the past too filed RTIs seeking information on the
appointment of the CIC and had never been refused before,” says Batra. The
information was finally given to Batra after he put in an appeal.
Batra’s RTI
had followed protests and a public interest litigation (PIL) by activists in
2014-15 after the post of Chief Information Commissioner was kept vacant for a
long time. “The fact that a government allows the Information Commission to go
headless for so long is itself an indication that the government is not very
serious about making sure that people are able to access their right to
information,” says activist Anjali Bhardwaj.
The RTI Act
was passed in 2005 and has in the past helped uncover some big scams, such as
the Adarsh Housing Scam in Mumbai where houses meant for war widows and
veterans were given to politicians and bureaucrats irregularities in the 2010
Commonwealth Games and the 2G scam. It has also been used extensively by people
as a means to access their basic rights and entitlements. “About six to eight
million RTI applications are filed in the country every year,” says activist
Nikhil Dey.
Bhardwaj
agrees. “Our research has shown that the poorest and the most marginalised are
the primary users of the RTI,” she says. “There is very poor grievance redress
mechanism in our country. If someone complains that he or she is not getting
ration, pension, or any other basic right and entitlement, nothing happens. In
such a situation people have found it useful to file an RTI application.”
A Worrying
Change
But earlier
this year the government proposed some changes to the RTI rules, which have
caused concern to activists. Once passed, the RTI Rules 2017 will replace the
RTI Rules 2012. The proposed rules were put out on the DoPT website for
comments from the public.
There are two
particularly worrying changes. The first is the provision that proceedings
pending before the commission shall abate on the death of the appellant. The
second is that the commission may allow an appellant to withdraw an appeal if
the matter has not been finally heard or a decision or order not been
pronounced by the commission.