Bar & Bench: New Delhi: Sunday,
December 11, 2016.
Of late,
there has been an unusual amount of postage being sent to noted Right to
Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal’s residence in Delhi, even by his
own standards.
Agrawal
claims that scores of fake RTI applicants are using his name and address
seeking information regarding people from Rajasthan working in hospitals in
Delhi. He has also noted that even though the RTI requests bear no signatures,
they have been passed on to PIOs in the hospitals.
In a
representation made to the Central Information Commissioner, Agrawal states,
“Same fake
petitioner has also sent unsigned representation to office of Hon’ble Chief
Minister of Rajasthan alleging 100-percent fake certificates/degrees from
nursing-staff from Rajasthan…Likewise unsigned representation addressed to
office of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan was transferred to various
hospitals of Delhi.”
Agrawal also
claims that the hospital staffers are threatening to sue him for “millions of
rupees” for “loss of reputation”.
Speaking to Bar
& Bench, he said,
“I am the
victim here. Someone is threatening to file a defamation suit for 50 lakhs.
Till two years ago, I was the most prolific RTI activist in the country.
Everybody thinks that by using my name, there will be a fear psychology for the
public authority.”
He has made a
number of suggestions to curb the menace of frivolous RTI filings, the most
significant of which is that every RTI application seeking to make a complaint
against a government employee should be accompanied by the applicant’s ID proof
and signature.
Having being
similarly targeted in the past, Agrawal had approached the Department of
Training and Personnel (DoPT) with these suggestions. However, the DoPT
officials have stated that this particular suggestion cannot be implemented, as
the RTI Act and Rules do not specifically for furnishing photo ID along with
appeals and complaints. In fact, Section 6(2) of the Act states,
“An applicant
making request for information shall not be required to give any reason for
requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may
be necessary for contacting him.”
This
provision was ostensibly put in place to ensure anonymity of the applicant, and
if Agrawal’s suggestions are to be considered, it could deter applicants from
filing complaints.
However,
Agrawal disagrees. He says,
“Even now,
the applicant has to give his name and address, so what is the change? For
those who do not want to disclose their identity, there is a Calcutta High
Court order which says you can give a post box number and apply through that.”
He has also
suggested that the fees for filing an RTI be increased from the present Rs. 10
to Rs. 50, in order to prevent misuse.
“It is a
common knowledge that those misusing RTI petitions, do so because of very low
RTI fees of just rupees ten…People below poverty line (BPL) are already
exempted from RTI fees and copying charges…Basic RTI fees should therefore be
raised to rupees fifty but inclusive of copying charges of first twenty pages…”
He has also
suggested that the Department of Posts immediately issue RTI stamps in
denominations of Rupees 2, 10 and 50.
In response
to these suggestions, Central Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu has
directed the DoPT to look into the matter and take steps to deal with the
growing problem of fake applications.
In an order
dated November 10, he held,
“There should
be a focussed effort in tackling the fake applications which harass both the
genuine applicants and public authorities. Hence, the Commission recommends, in
the interest of promoting genuine usage of RTI and preventing fake applicants,
the Secretary, DoPT, to address the serious issue of fake complaints like in
this case, consider the suggestion of appellant/complainant to prepare an
Office Memorandum with specific guidelines for the PIOs to deal with the such
fake RTI applications, as soon as possible.”
Agrawal
concludes by saying,
“It is my
submission that the RTI Rules should be amended. If I insist on amending the
RTI Act, the government will get an opportunity to dilute it.”
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