DNA: Mumbai: Friday, July 13, 2018.
Right to
Information (RTI) activists in the city have decided to create awareness on
some orders of the Supreme Court that are often cited to deny information. A
meeting on the subject was held on Wednesday at Dadar.
"There
are a few judgements that are increasingly being cited by the public
information officers to deny information. They cite section 8 (1) (j) of the
RTI Act to deny such information," said Shailesh Gandhi, former central
information commissioner.
"Increasingly
PIOs are using this section for any information that concerns individual, even
if their name is not mentioned. It is like this: the Supreme Court is amending
the RTI Act, so how do we challenge the Supreme Court to protect our right and
get information? Even review petition can be done only by those who are parties
to the judgement," said Gandhi.
After the
meeting, the activists could not come to any conclusion but it was decided to
create public awareness about it. "If they keep denying information like
this, the entire RTI Act would be self-defeating," said Bhaskar Prabhu,
another RTI activist who attended the meeting.