Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Saturday,
May 14, 2016.
It appears
that the entire political spectrum may be preparing to muzzle the Right to
Information (RTI) with the excuse that it is being misused. Some amendments may
be introduced to muzzle it.
Samajwadi
Party MP Naresh Agarwal has levelled a charge that Parliament passed the RTI
Act under pressure from the US. NCP’s Praful Patel matched this by saying that
paanwallahs and chaiwallahs seek information under the RTI. Congress’ Rajiv
Shukla went along with this, almost repudiating his party’s biggest
achievement. All these people do not understand that they are public servants
and are objecting to sharing information with the masters.
Everyone who
values democracy must get together and give an effective message that they will
not tolerate a regressive attack on the RTI. If they are allowed to shackle the
RTI by labelling some applications as ‘misuse’, ‘frivolous’ or ‘vexatious’ they
will refuse most information that reveals corruption and arbitrariness.
Generally,
Public Information Officers (PIOs) refer to applicants who file RTI
applications regularly as blackmailers misusing the RTI. I would divide those
who file a large number of applications as: One, those who file applications
with the hope of exposing corruption or arbitrariness and hope to improve
governance; two, those who file applications repetitively to correct a wrong
that they perceive has been done to them, and; third, those who use the RTI to
blackmail people. The third category largely targets illegal buildings, mining
or other illegal activity.
All three
categories comprise around 10% of the total appeals and complaints. Nobody will
deny that the first category deserves to be encouraged and is growing steadily.
In the second category there are some who have been able to get corrective
action and some whose grievance may defy resolution. Generally most of us have
a strong aversion for the third category who make it a money-earning racket.
In the
implementation of most laws some people will misuse its provisions. Police
often misuse their powers to subvert the law, and so also criminals misuse our
judicial system to prolong trials. The misuse of laws is largely dependent on
the kind of people in a society and whether the justice system has the
capability of punishing wrongdoers. There are people who go to places of
worship with the sole objective of committing theft or other crimes. But
society does not define these as their main characteristic. Nobody can ensure
that only angels will use the RTI.
It is worth
understanding that the RTI only gives access to the records in the government.
Nobody has given instances where ‘RTI misuse’ has caused any significant harm
to the nation.
Another
argument that the RTI has resulted in reluctance to take decisions in the
government is flawed. Honest officials admit that since the advent of the RTI
they are able to resist orders that are not in the public interest by pointing
out that the records may be sought under an RTI.
The powerful
find the RTI upsetting their arrogance and hence try to discredit it by talking
about its misuse. If it is muzzled by asking people to define why they want
information, soon we will have to provide reasons for speaking. Our fundamental
right of freedom of expression is at stake.
We must be
vigilant and rebuff this attack on our democracy. Three attempts to amend the
RTI Act were stalled by citizens. We cannot allow our RTI to be enfeebled.
(Shailesh
Gandhi is former central information commissioner)
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