Hindustan Times: Chandigarh: Sunday, 30 October 2022.
To prevent the Act’s misuse, there should be a limit on questions to be asked at a time and attempts to be made for seeking information. Such an amendment will cut the number of pending cases. At present, there is a backlog of 3.15 lakh appeals
No law is sacrosanct, no law is flawless. Only after the execution of the law for a few years do its shortcomings surface. It becomes useful if we remove its practical difficulties and misuse. The Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed with a big bang in India in 2005 and no government dared to amend it. During his second tenure, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh hinted that the time had come to review the Act. There was an outcry and it was alleged that his government intended subverting the sunshine Act. He had to immediately clarify that his government had no such intention. The present Narendra Modi dispensation has repealed many redundant laws; amended and improved flawed ones passed either by the British or by governments after independence. It is hoped that the Centre will investigate the RTI Act’s tardy working and execution to make it more effective and relevant in changed circumstances.
This month, the RTI Act completed 17 years. Records show its working has been discouraging as lakhs of appeals are pending. In 95% of the cases, penalty was not imposed on the culprits. The violation of the law is rampant. Of the 165 vacancies of information commissioners, one-fourth is vacant, while two-thirds of information commissions don’t even provide e-filing facility. Since the enactment of the RTI Act, it has been reviewed only once in 2019 that too for the salary and emoluments of chief information commissioners and information commissioners. Its contents, difficulties in its execution, misuse of it by RTI activists have never been reviewed.
Haven for retired bureaucrats, cops
In 2019, Parliament passed the first amendment to this Act. The amendment pertains only to Sections 13 and 16 of the RTI Act that deal with tenure, salary and status of central and state chief information commissioners (CICs) and information commissioners (ICs). Critics say the amendment enhances powers of the Centre at the cost of the states and will impinge upon the independence and impartiality of the information commissions. States will have the authority to appoint commissioners, but the Centre will determine their tenure, salary, and status.
Information commissions have become a haven for retired bureaucrats and senior police officers besides frustrated and defeated politicians. Section 12(5) of the Act, however, stipulates that “persons of eminence in public life with knowledge and experience of law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance” can only be appointed as the CIC and ICs.
Prevent misuse of RTI
More than 25,000 cases are filed with the central commission every year and lakhs of people have used the RTI, but how many of them are genuine information seekers is questionable. As a result, the Act is rampantly misused in our country. Due to this, there has emerged a separate class of professional RTI activists whose daily routine is to apply to the PIO or first appellate authority or RTI commissioner for information and to harass government officials. Then there are those who write a letter a day to seek information from a government office under RTI. Some subordinates misuse it as a tool to pressurise their seniors and divert their attention to settle scores.
It’s time the RTI Act is amended so that it can’t be misused. To get information from a department, most professional RTI activists ask 10 to 50 questions pertaining to a period of 10 or more years at one go by paying ₹10. It is a Herculean task for a public information officer (PIO) to find answers for such a long list of questions that too form a period of over a decade within a stipulated period of 30 days.
It is suggested that there should be a limit on questions to be asked at a time and attempts to be made for seeking information. Such an amendment will reduce the number of pending cases. At present, 3.15 lakh appeals and complaints are pending across the country.
To make information commissions independent and impartial, persons of eminence and integrity from different fields should be appointed as CIC and ICs as prescribed in Section 12(5) of the RTI Act.
vkmalhotra08@gmail.com
(The writer is a former college principal and author of several books)
To prevent the Act’s misuse, there should be a limit on questions to be asked at a time and attempts to be made for seeking information. Such an amendment will cut the number of pending cases. At present, there is a backlog of 3.15 lakh appeals
No law is sacrosanct, no law is flawless. Only after the execution of the law for a few years do its shortcomings surface. It becomes useful if we remove its practical difficulties and misuse. The Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed with a big bang in India in 2005 and no government dared to amend it. During his second tenure, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh hinted that the time had come to review the Act. There was an outcry and it was alleged that his government intended subverting the sunshine Act. He had to immediately clarify that his government had no such intention. The present Narendra Modi dispensation has repealed many redundant laws; amended and improved flawed ones passed either by the British or by governments after independence. It is hoped that the Centre will investigate the RTI Act’s tardy working and execution to make it more effective and relevant in changed circumstances.
This month, the RTI Act completed 17 years. Records show its working has been discouraging as lakhs of appeals are pending. In 95% of the cases, penalty was not imposed on the culprits. The violation of the law is rampant. Of the 165 vacancies of information commissioners, one-fourth is vacant, while two-thirds of information commissions don’t even provide e-filing facility. Since the enactment of the RTI Act, it has been reviewed only once in 2019 that too for the salary and emoluments of chief information commissioners and information commissioners. Its contents, difficulties in its execution, misuse of it by RTI activists have never been reviewed.
Haven for retired bureaucrats, cops
In 2019, Parliament passed the first amendment to this Act. The amendment pertains only to Sections 13 and 16 of the RTI Act that deal with tenure, salary and status of central and state chief information commissioners (CICs) and information commissioners (ICs). Critics say the amendment enhances powers of the Centre at the cost of the states and will impinge upon the independence and impartiality of the information commissions. States will have the authority to appoint commissioners, but the Centre will determine their tenure, salary, and status.
Information commissions have become a haven for retired bureaucrats and senior police officers besides frustrated and defeated politicians. Section 12(5) of the Act, however, stipulates that “persons of eminence in public life with knowledge and experience of law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance” can only be appointed as the CIC and ICs.
Prevent misuse of RTI
More than 25,000 cases are filed with the central commission every year and lakhs of people have used the RTI, but how many of them are genuine information seekers is questionable. As a result, the Act is rampantly misused in our country. Due to this, there has emerged a separate class of professional RTI activists whose daily routine is to apply to the PIO or first appellate authority or RTI commissioner for information and to harass government officials. Then there are those who write a letter a day to seek information from a government office under RTI. Some subordinates misuse it as a tool to pressurise their seniors and divert their attention to settle scores.
It’s time the RTI Act is amended so that it can’t be misused. To get information from a department, most professional RTI activists ask 10 to 50 questions pertaining to a period of 10 or more years at one go by paying ₹10. It is a Herculean task for a public information officer (PIO) to find answers for such a long list of questions that too form a period of over a decade within a stipulated period of 30 days.
It is suggested that there should be a limit on questions to be asked at a time and attempts to be made for seeking information. Such an amendment will reduce the number of pending cases. At present, 3.15 lakh appeals and complaints are pending across the country.
To make information commissions independent and impartial, persons of eminence and integrity from different fields should be appointed as CIC and ICs as prescribed in Section 12(5) of the RTI Act.
vkmalhotra08@gmail.com
(The writer is a former college principal and author of several books)
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