Attempt to Sabotage RTI Act Likely, Says Aruna Roy

Indian Express: Thiruvananthapuram: Wednesday, 14 January 2015.

Expressing serious concern over the growing trend of infringement of democratic rights and assault on democratic institutions, RTI activist Aruna Roy said that a serious attack on the RTI Act was likely to happen in the near future.

Presiding over the state-level social audit organised under the aegis of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) here on Tuesday, Aruna Roy said that she had pointed out earlier that there were efforts to sabotage laws based on rights and deny the space of people in the democratic set up.

Coming down heavily on the dismantling of the Planning Commission, curtailing the powers of the UGC and efforts on controlling the Supreme Court, the rights activist said that the country was moving towards a Centralised planning protocol.

She said that intolerance towards RTI activists was on the rise. In the last few years, 40 RTI activists were killed by those who did not want transparency and justice to prevail.

To overcome the challenges, the government should urgently pass the Whistleblowers Protection Act. She however said that the RTI activists were getting attention across the country. At the national-level, NCPRI had launched the campaign ‘Use RTI, Save RTI’.

Aruna Roy also came down heavily on the lack of commitment and insensitivity on the part of the Information Commissioners.

“If persons with such a mindset is selected to the post of Commissioners, it would be against the interest of the people and against the very spirit of the RTI Act,” Aruna Roy said.

“The Information Commissioners should have commitment first to the people and then to the Constitution of the country. Integrity, sense of justice and efficiency should be the basic qualities for selecting one to the post of the Commissioner,” she said.The RTI is envisaged to get rid of the arbitrary use of power. There should be a sense of respect towards individuals’ fight for justice.

The role of the Commission is to protect the rights under the RTI as an interpreter of the Act. But unfortunately, one of the Information Commissioners in Tamil Nadu had ordered the arrest of an RTI Activist, Elango, who came in for a hearing. Elango had demanded that he should also be allowed to be present during the hearing. Elango, who was also a former panchayat president, was  remanded in judicial custody in a case for ‘infringment’ of the functioning of the Commission.

In Kerala, as four posts of Commissioners are getting vacant this year, behind the curtain manoeuvers have already been started by vested interests to get appointed as the new Commissioners.

She asked the people to be vigilant against such moves.

NCPRI state coordinator Abey George, district coordinators Peter Myaliparampil, Ashok Pandalam, Puthusseri Sreenivasan, K K Lakshmi Kadampazhippuram, P Lakshamanan, B Sasidharan, Ramesh Babu, P M Reynold Netto, M A Pookkoya, Kalam Rajan, Arun P A, James Kurien,Sajith George and Rajiv S D spoke.