The Wire: New Delhi: Sunday, 26 October 2025.
Former Delhi high court Chief Justice and law commission chairman Justice A.P. Shah spoke recently on why the RTI cannot be allowed to die a slow death.
This is the full text of
the speech that Justice A.P. Shah who retired as Delhi high court Chief Justice
delivered at the RTI Mela and Sammelan in Beawar, Rajasthan to mark 20 years of
the Right to Information legislation on October 12, 2025. The original speech
is in Hindi and has been translated into English.
Namaste, dear friends, I am delighted to be here today on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the RTI [Right to Information] Act. I am especially grateful to Aruna-ji [Aruna Roy] and Nikhil-ji [Nikhil Dey], Shankar-ji [Shankar Singh] and everyone at MKSS [the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan], for inviting me here today.
Many of you already know what the RTI Act is. But before the RTI Act existed, what was it like?
Imagine that the government is like a big, closed box. Inside that box are all the files, all the records, that actually belong to you. Before the RTI Act, this box was locked, and the key was with politicians and officers. They could do whatever they wanted, and keep you in the dark. In 2005, when the RTI Act came about, it was like a key that broke the lock on that box.
The RTI law says: The government's information is your property. Just like you can own your field and your home, you also have a right to know how money is spent in your village or district, how that school teacher was appointed, and why you did not get your ration card.
RTI is a simple but powerful tool that helps every person demand an answer from the government.
When writing our constitution, our founding fathers knew that a government must be transparent. The Supreme Court India’s highest court has also said many times that the “Right to Know” is a fundamental right that belongs to everyone. The RTI Act simply put this existing power of the people down on paper.
What is especially interesting about this law is that it was not created by the parliament or because a politician felt they should help the people. The idea for RTI was born from the soil, from the struggle of ordinary workers and farmers, in villages more than in cities, it came from people like you. A team of brave activists, led by people like Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh and their colleagues at the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), started a movement. They started by simply asking to see muster rolls in Rajasthan. These roles contained the list of people paid for road work or drought relief. The officers tried to hide the books. But the activists and the villagers stood strong. They held public hearings asking for every expense to be read out loud, so that everyone could see if the money was stolen or if the work was actually done. The struggle of Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, and the villagers forced the government to show the files.
Over time, this led to an RTI law first in the state of Rajasthan, and eventually for all of India, in 2005.
One very important feature of the RTI law is the cost of getting the information you want. It takes time and money to ask a question. The people who wrote the RTI law did not want to put a burden on the poor. So, they added Section 4 in the law which contains a promise that “the government must put information out in the open”, even before you ask for it.
Section 4 basically asks the government to put up a public notice board, which includes names of all beneficiaries, all spending details, and information about all schemes for everyone to see.
Because of the push from activists, some states have started to put out information publicly. As more information started coming out, people could find out, for example, about “ghost employees”, or the names of people who were being paid, but who did not actually exist. This has happened in Rajasthan through the Jan Soochna Portal, and in Karnataka through the Mahiti Kanaja. Other states are also doing similar things. Many lakhs of citizens have used it to get information about their rights. Section 4 is extremely important, and we must demand that every state and every village follows it fully.
Over the last 20 years, the RTI has shone the light on dark secrets of powerful governments. It has helped expose financial fraud and theft in pension schemes, where people were stealing money meant for the elderly and the poor. It has helped citizens question how money was spent from important government funds meant to help the people. It has also forced the highest institutions to open their books and be accountable to the public.
The other thing is the timeline provided by the RTI. Whatever your question is, the RTI Act requires that the government officer must answer every RTI application within 30 days. If they do not answer, they can be penalised. If you push through, it can make sure that you get your pension in time, your ration card, and so on.
The RTI Act has been generally working very well. Many people from all walks of life have used it to obtain information. But governments do not like it much.
Remember that the RTI Act has taken power away from the corrupt and given it to the people. But governments, especially the present government which has been in power since 2014, do not like it when their power to act in secret is taken away. They do not like it when people are always watching them. They like the locked box better.
So the government is trying to weaken the RTI law in some ways. For example, in 2019, they brought in an amendment that affects how the RTI Act works. If you have a problem with an officer who does not give information you asked for, you would approach an Information Commission. These commissions are like judges for RTI cases. They are powerful, independent bodies, and they can fine and punish an officer who refuses to give information. Earlier, the Information Commissioners had a fixed, secure job for five years. This meant they could do what they wanted, without being afraid of anyone else. But after 2019, the rule changed – the Central government can now decide their salary and how long they would hold their post. This would make anyone afraid to do their job properly.
Another thing that the government has done is to just not fill the jobs at all. When an Information Commissioner retires, the government is very slow with appointing a new one. As a result, RTI appeals get piled up. If you have to wait for two or three years for an answer to your question, the RTI law is completely useless. In fact, the Supreme Court has also told the government that it is making the RTI a “dead letter”, a body with no life, because it is not filling these empty seats.
So, the government is trying to kill the law slowly, both through making judges afraid, and by delaying appointments and cases.
Recently, the most dangerous blow has come from a new law called the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act of 2023. According to the government, this law is supposed to protect your privacy, but it has a hidden clause that might kill the RTI Act altogether.
In the old RTI Act, one rule said that “even if some information is personal (like a public servant's salary or their assets), it must be disclosed if it is in the larger public interest (like exposing theft and corruption).” This rule is for use especially against corrupt officers. But this rule has been completely removed by the new DPDP Act. Now, with the amendment, any information that is “personal” can be denied. What the “personal” means is also left extremely wide. An officer can potentially claim that any file about them is personal, whether it is their degree, their property records, or any disciplinary action against them…
In other words, an officer can now look at an RTI application and simply deny it, saying it is personal.
Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey have rightly warned us: If this stands, the RTI Act will be dead. It will become the “Right to Deny Information Act” (RDI).
Even as we consider the changes to the RTI Act and how the government is making every effort to weaken it, we must also remember the brave souls who have paid the ultimate price for using this law. The RTI is a dangerous tool because it challenges powerful and corrupt people. Some say that nearly 100 people have been killed for filing RTI applications. Hundreds, maybe thousands more, have been threatened, assaulted, or had false criminal cases filed against them. The government has never protected these people.
A law called the Whistleblowers Protection Act was passed in 2014, to protect anyone who exposes corruption in government, but this government has not implemented it. The law is just on paper.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you of this: The RTI Act is the most powerful law in your hands. It was born from the struggle of common people like you. It has exposed corruption and delivered your basic rights. But now, this most powerful law, which gives you power directly in your hands, is under attack. The government has weakened RTI judges, they are deliberately leaving posts in Information Commissions empty. The government has also introduced a new law, the DPDP Act, which allows practically all information pertaining to an individual officer to be classified as “personal information” and not revealed to the public, even if it is in the public interest to do so.
We must always remember that the power belongs to us, and we must defend it to the fullest.
So what can we do? The best way to save the law is to keep using it, and keep filing RTI applications for your questions that have not been answered by the government. Keep asking local leaders to put all public information on a notice board and on a website, so that we do not have to even ask for it. Pressure the government to change the DPDP Act, and ask for protection for RTI activists, so that people who fight for the truth do not have to fear for their life.
This is not a political battle. This is a personal battle, for your power as a citizen, and for our democracy.
We must use our collective voice, assert our power as citizens, and ensure that the people's law is not defeated.
Do not let the box be locked again. Keep your key, and keep the government accountable.
I am also extremely pleased to be here today at a time when the world's first RTI Museum is currently being concepalised and constructed here.
The people of the city of Beawar, its surrounding areas, and their contribution to transparency, accountability, and democratic participation, should be acknowledged not just in Rajasthan or India but across the world. This would also honour and acknowledge the role ordinary citizens play in keeping democracy alive.
I would very much like to be a part of this important initiative, and suggest that this must be developed as a live and living museum, where the past helps inspire democratic initiatives in the present and future. The museum can then become a place that can keep recording people's struggles and collective public action for transparency and accountability as they unfold.
Finally, this museum should be a space that furthers the values of the Indian Constitution in every way. I therefore hope the museum will also become a repository for pro-people precedents in administration, progressive judgments in our courts, and a place that demonstrates how transparency and accountability to the people can help build a truly participatory, "social democracy".
I promise to keep myself connected to this most important people’s movement.
Thank you.
(Justice Ajit Prakash Shah is former chief justice, Delhi high court and former chairperson, Law Commission of India.)
Former Delhi high court Chief Justice and law commission chairman Justice A.P. Shah spoke recently on why the RTI cannot be allowed to die a slow death.
Namaste, dear friends, I am delighted to be here today on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the RTI [Right to Information] Act. I am especially grateful to Aruna-ji [Aruna Roy] and Nikhil-ji [Nikhil Dey], Shankar-ji [Shankar Singh] and everyone at MKSS [the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan], for inviting me here today.
Many of you already know what the RTI Act is. But before the RTI Act existed, what was it like?
Imagine that the government is like a big, closed box. Inside that box are all the files, all the records, that actually belong to you. Before the RTI Act, this box was locked, and the key was with politicians and officers. They could do whatever they wanted, and keep you in the dark. In 2005, when the RTI Act came about, it was like a key that broke the lock on that box.
The RTI law says: The government's information is your property. Just like you can own your field and your home, you also have a right to know how money is spent in your village or district, how that school teacher was appointed, and why you did not get your ration card.
RTI is a simple but powerful tool that helps every person demand an answer from the government.
When writing our constitution, our founding fathers knew that a government must be transparent. The Supreme Court India’s highest court has also said many times that the “Right to Know” is a fundamental right that belongs to everyone. The RTI Act simply put this existing power of the people down on paper.
What is especially interesting about this law is that it was not created by the parliament or because a politician felt they should help the people. The idea for RTI was born from the soil, from the struggle of ordinary workers and farmers, in villages more than in cities, it came from people like you. A team of brave activists, led by people like Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh and their colleagues at the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), started a movement. They started by simply asking to see muster rolls in Rajasthan. These roles contained the list of people paid for road work or drought relief. The officers tried to hide the books. But the activists and the villagers stood strong. They held public hearings asking for every expense to be read out loud, so that everyone could see if the money was stolen or if the work was actually done. The struggle of Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, and the villagers forced the government to show the files.
Over time, this led to an RTI law first in the state of Rajasthan, and eventually for all of India, in 2005.
One very important feature of the RTI law is the cost of getting the information you want. It takes time and money to ask a question. The people who wrote the RTI law did not want to put a burden on the poor. So, they added Section 4 in the law which contains a promise that “the government must put information out in the open”, even before you ask for it.
Section 4 basically asks the government to put up a public notice board, which includes names of all beneficiaries, all spending details, and information about all schemes for everyone to see.
Because of the push from activists, some states have started to put out information publicly. As more information started coming out, people could find out, for example, about “ghost employees”, or the names of people who were being paid, but who did not actually exist. This has happened in Rajasthan through the Jan Soochna Portal, and in Karnataka through the Mahiti Kanaja. Other states are also doing similar things. Many lakhs of citizens have used it to get information about their rights. Section 4 is extremely important, and we must demand that every state and every village follows it fully.
Over the last 20 years, the RTI has shone the light on dark secrets of powerful governments. It has helped expose financial fraud and theft in pension schemes, where people were stealing money meant for the elderly and the poor. It has helped citizens question how money was spent from important government funds meant to help the people. It has also forced the highest institutions to open their books and be accountable to the public.
The other thing is the timeline provided by the RTI. Whatever your question is, the RTI Act requires that the government officer must answer every RTI application within 30 days. If they do not answer, they can be penalised. If you push through, it can make sure that you get your pension in time, your ration card, and so on.
The RTI Act has been generally working very well. Many people from all walks of life have used it to obtain information. But governments do not like it much.
Remember that the RTI Act has taken power away from the corrupt and given it to the people. But governments, especially the present government which has been in power since 2014, do not like it when their power to act in secret is taken away. They do not like it when people are always watching them. They like the locked box better.
So the government is trying to weaken the RTI law in some ways. For example, in 2019, they brought in an amendment that affects how the RTI Act works. If you have a problem with an officer who does not give information you asked for, you would approach an Information Commission. These commissions are like judges for RTI cases. They are powerful, independent bodies, and they can fine and punish an officer who refuses to give information. Earlier, the Information Commissioners had a fixed, secure job for five years. This meant they could do what they wanted, without being afraid of anyone else. But after 2019, the rule changed – the Central government can now decide their salary and how long they would hold their post. This would make anyone afraid to do their job properly.
Another thing that the government has done is to just not fill the jobs at all. When an Information Commissioner retires, the government is very slow with appointing a new one. As a result, RTI appeals get piled up. If you have to wait for two or three years for an answer to your question, the RTI law is completely useless. In fact, the Supreme Court has also told the government that it is making the RTI a “dead letter”, a body with no life, because it is not filling these empty seats.
So, the government is trying to kill the law slowly, both through making judges afraid, and by delaying appointments and cases.
Recently, the most dangerous blow has come from a new law called the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act of 2023. According to the government, this law is supposed to protect your privacy, but it has a hidden clause that might kill the RTI Act altogether.
In the old RTI Act, one rule said that “even if some information is personal (like a public servant's salary or their assets), it must be disclosed if it is in the larger public interest (like exposing theft and corruption).” This rule is for use especially against corrupt officers. But this rule has been completely removed by the new DPDP Act. Now, with the amendment, any information that is “personal” can be denied. What the “personal” means is also left extremely wide. An officer can potentially claim that any file about them is personal, whether it is their degree, their property records, or any disciplinary action against them…
In other words, an officer can now look at an RTI application and simply deny it, saying it is personal.
Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey have rightly warned us: If this stands, the RTI Act will be dead. It will become the “Right to Deny Information Act” (RDI).
Even as we consider the changes to the RTI Act and how the government is making every effort to weaken it, we must also remember the brave souls who have paid the ultimate price for using this law. The RTI is a dangerous tool because it challenges powerful and corrupt people. Some say that nearly 100 people have been killed for filing RTI applications. Hundreds, maybe thousands more, have been threatened, assaulted, or had false criminal cases filed against them. The government has never protected these people.
A law called the Whistleblowers Protection Act was passed in 2014, to protect anyone who exposes corruption in government, but this government has not implemented it. The law is just on paper.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you of this: The RTI Act is the most powerful law in your hands. It was born from the struggle of common people like you. It has exposed corruption and delivered your basic rights. But now, this most powerful law, which gives you power directly in your hands, is under attack. The government has weakened RTI judges, they are deliberately leaving posts in Information Commissions empty. The government has also introduced a new law, the DPDP Act, which allows practically all information pertaining to an individual officer to be classified as “personal information” and not revealed to the public, even if it is in the public interest to do so.
We must always remember that the power belongs to us, and we must defend it to the fullest.
So what can we do? The best way to save the law is to keep using it, and keep filing RTI applications for your questions that have not been answered by the government. Keep asking local leaders to put all public information on a notice board and on a website, so that we do not have to even ask for it. Pressure the government to change the DPDP Act, and ask for protection for RTI activists, so that people who fight for the truth do not have to fear for their life.
This is not a political battle. This is a personal battle, for your power as a citizen, and for our democracy.
We must use our collective voice, assert our power as citizens, and ensure that the people's law is not defeated.
Do not let the box be locked again. Keep your key, and keep the government accountable.
I am also extremely pleased to be here today at a time when the world's first RTI Museum is currently being concepalised and constructed here.
The people of the city of Beawar, its surrounding areas, and their contribution to transparency, accountability, and democratic participation, should be acknowledged not just in Rajasthan or India but across the world. This would also honour and acknowledge the role ordinary citizens play in keeping democracy alive.
I would very much like to be a part of this important initiative, and suggest that this must be developed as a live and living museum, where the past helps inspire democratic initiatives in the present and future. The museum can then become a place that can keep recording people's struggles and collective public action for transparency and accountability as they unfold.
Finally, this museum should be a space that furthers the values of the Indian Constitution in every way. I therefore hope the museum will also become a repository for pro-people precedents in administration, progressive judgments in our courts, and a place that demonstrates how transparency and accountability to the people can help build a truly participatory, "social democracy".
I promise to keep myself connected to this most important people’s movement.
Thank you.
(Justice Ajit Prakash Shah is former chief justice, Delhi high court and former chairperson, Law Commission of India.)
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