Move to amend RTI Act comes under fire

The Hindu: Kochi: Sunday, 06 December 2015.

A recent circular by the State government asking all heads of departments, public sector undertakings and District Collectors to furnish information regarding the difficulties faced by the public information officers while enforcing the Right to Information (RTI) Act has invited the ire of RTI activists.

The circular has been issued by the General Administration (Coordination) Department. The circular says that the views and information have been sought in view of the decision taken by the Committee of Subordinate Legislation of Parliament to amend the Act “to bring transparency in the functioning of government bodies and to expose malpractices, if any, in the system.”

The department has sought consolidated details, including the difficulties encountered by the government departments on account of irrelevant or fake applications and suggestions to overcome such difficulties. That apart, data on the number of applications received, replies given and appeals before the Information Commission have also been sought.

The amendments to the RTI Act has been mooted in the wake of the June 3, 2013, verdict of the Central Information Commission holding that political parties came under the ambit of the definition of public authorities and hence under the purview of the RTI Act. D.B. Binu, general secretary, RTI Federation of Kerala, opposing the amendments, pointed out that the circular which did not seek the opinions of stakeholders, including civil society, RTI activists and non-governmental organisations, was undemocratic and totally against the spirit of the Act. He said that what was even more shocking was the fact that the Committee of Subordinate Legislation of Parliament was not empowered to make amendments to the Act. The power of the committee was only recommendatory in nature.

V.V. Giri, former State Information Commissioner, said the government could have sought opinion from the stakeholders as well. He also wondered what the government meant by irrelevant and fake applications. There was an earlier move to include frivolous and vexatious grounds in the Act to reject RTI applications. However, it was strongly resisted. Mr. Giri expected the committee to hold sittings in various places to seek the views and suggestions of stakeholders.