Hamstringing The RTI Act

Proposed Amendments to RTI Act:

  • The government has recently proposed some changes in the act which are said to be regressive in nature.
  • There are set of targeted and fashioned amendments to the RTI Act which will not only undermine one part of the Act but structurally weaken the independence and authority of the only body that gives it teeth, thereby nullifying the entire Act.
  • The government proposes to do away with the equivalence of the Central Information Commissioners with the Election Commissioners on the ground that the two have different mandates.
  • The underlying assumption that transparency is less important for a democracy than holding of free and fair elections is absurd.
  • The government also proposes to replace the existing fixed five-year tenure of the Information Commissioners with tenure as may be prescribed by it. This would make the tenure largesse to be bestowed by the government.
  • This would be detrimental to the independence and authority of the Information Commissions.

Problems in RTI

  • Rejection of the RTI based on dubious reasons.
  • Lack of awareness among poor and under privileged about RTI.
  • Non-serious RTI application make the process cumbersome.
  • Many a time fail to provide information in 30 days.
  • RTI activists are regularly murders or attached by mafias and other miscreants.
  • Obsolete record management.
  • Huge level of pendency of cases both at national as well as state levels.
  • Non-imposition of penalties – data supplied by 20 commissions shows that penalty was imposed in just 2.4% of the cases disposed of.
  • Laxity by public authorities in publishing information.
  • The RTI Act, did not give adequate authority to the Information Commissions to enforce their decisions.
  • The Act did not give adequate authority to the Information Commissions to enforce their decisions.

The reasons for the above challenges include

  • Poor record-keeping practices within the bureaucracy.
  • Lack of infrastructure and staff for running Information Commissions.
  • Dilution of supplementary laws such as the Whistleblower Protection Act.
  • Inadequate training to civil servants for implementing the Act.
  • Delayed appointments of Information Commissioners (ICs)

Misuse of RTI act:

  • The clogging of the RTI system is also because a number of applicants, usually disgruntled employees of public institutions, ask frivolous queries.
  • Their applications have unfortunately continued to exist alongside those of numerous RTI activists who have done commendable work, often risking their life and limb.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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