Times
of India: New Delhi: Monday, 22 September 2014.
In a serious
blow to transparency, the Madras high court has said RTI applicants must give
reasons for seeking information as it gave relief to its registry from
disclosing file notings on a complaint against a chief metropolitan magistrate.
A division
bench, comprising Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice K Ravichandrababu,
said an applicant must disclose the object for which information is sought and
also satisfy that such object has a legal backing, a decision which may have
far reaching implications on getting information under the RTI Act and which
was decried by activists.
"If
informations (sic) are to be furnished to a person, who does not have any
reason or object behind seeking such informations... the intention of the
legislature is not to the effect that such informations are to be given like
pamphlets to any person unmindful of the object behind seeking such
information," the bench said.
M Thuyamurthy,
an RTI activist from Tondiarpet said, "The ruling is shocking. Why do we
need to disclose the reason for seeking information? The judiciary seems to be
afraid of this transparency law."
However, the
legislature, while passing the RTI Act, specially incorporated Section 6(2),
which says an applicant making request for information "shall not" be
required to give any reason for requesting the information. The high court
order does not mention Section 6(2).
"We
should not be mistaken as if we are saying something against the intention of
the legislature. What we want to emphasize is that a legislation, more
particularly, the one on hand, must achieve the object, viz, concrete and
effective functioning of the public authority with transparency and
accountability by providing the information which are under the control of such
public authorities," it said.
Several RTI
activists criticised the order. Terming the order "illegal", Senior
lawyer Prashant Bhushan said it was against the "letter and spirit"
of the Act. "It's a self-serving order by the HC in line with a number of
earlier orders of HCs and Supreme Court virtually preventing administrative
transparency of the court," he said.
Chennai-based
RTI activist Siva Elango, said the high court is trying to dampen the spirit of
RTI Act. "This shows that courts don't want to be transparent. The ruling
is against Section 6(2) of the RTI Act. It's unfortunate that they are trying
to suppress the RTI Act to hide irregularities and corruption in the judiciary."
RTI activist
C J Karira said the judgment strikes a body blow to the RTI Act since it is
tantamount to striking down Sec 6(2) without explicitly stating so.
RTI expert
Shekhar Singh also said the Supreme Court had defined the Right to Information
as a fundamental right and to exercise it one need not give any reason. He said
by definition, fundamental right means something which is a right that you
have, irrespective of any condition.
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