Hindu Business Line: Opinion: Tuesday,
January 24, 2017.
An analysis
by this paper found that government agencies and institutions are increasingly
finding ways to decline information sought under the Right to Information Act
(RTI), 2005. The experience of citizens in using the RTI to access information
has been largely less than satisfactory. Essentially, the Government and its
agencies are finding ways to ensure that the RTI Act becomes an ineffective
tool available to the citizens, thus defeating the very purpose for which it
was enacted in the first place. It is unfortunate that a law that would have
helped lower corruption in public offices and increase transparency in the
functioning of government and thus help improve governance has become hostage
to political and bureaucratic insecurity. Section 8(1) of the RTI Act together
with its clauses have often been misused to deny information requests. This
sweeping provision allows the government to deny any information that it
perceives to be prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country,
its security, strategic and economic interests or lead to incitement of an
offence and would disproportionately divert resources of the public authority.
This is a
pity. The RTI Act has helped expose large scams at the central and State level
in the past. The Adarsh Housing Society scam, which led to resignation of the
then Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, the Commonwealth Games scam and
even the 2G scam were exposed as the result of RTI applications. But such
exposes also had unintended consequences. Decision making in the Government
came to a standstill particularly during the UPA government’s second term.
Scams exposed by RTI Act queries gave a handle to opposition parties to attack
the ruling alliance and precipitate its downfall.
The RTI Act
was revolutionary and designed to be more effective than the Freedom of
Information Act enacted by the NDA government in 2002. The Act empowered
citizens to hold public functionaries accountable for their actions. It held
the promise of cleaning up governance, but that hope proved short-lived.
Political parties ensured that they were not covered under the purview of the
RTI Act through an amendment in 2013 and therefore were not answerable for
their actions to ordinary citizens. Dedicated RTI activists have been verbally
and physically abused, and some have even been killed. The government needs to
accept that some discomfiture may be the inevitable outcome of any effective use
of the Act, but the benefits by way of changing how politicians, bureaucrats
and lower level functionaries conduct themselves and the resultant improvement
in governance standards far outweigh the trouble. Any government that is committed
to democratic values should improve transparency and be more accountable to the
people it ostensibly exists to serve. It needs to take the lead in setting the
right example by embracing the RTI Act in letter and spirit.
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