Everything you wanted to know about RTI Act

“Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls

topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.” Ronald Reagan

Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognised Right to Information (RTI)

as a fundamental right of people in a civilized world. In 1946, the United

Nations General Assembly resolution stated, “Freedom of Information is a

fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United

Nations is consecrated. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this

right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,

receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of

frontiers.”

Right to Information is a key enabler of good governance, and is a tool to

ensure transparency and accountability in the government. It also helps ensure

participation of public in governance, eliminate corruption and empower the

people. It gives the citizen the right to seek information and makes it binding

on officials to store and make the information easily available to the public,

with the exception only when withholding the information is in public interest.

Globally, over sixty countries have implemented some form of legislation with

regard to right to information. Many other countries are following suit.

Right to Information in India

In India, after many deliberations over the years, the RTI Act was passed by

the parliament in October 12, 2005, thus opening up the governance processes of
our country to the public.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the best vehicles to

ensure RTI to the citizens. As specified by the RTI Act, the use of IT tools in

reaching information to the people is well manifested in many of the

e-governance projects implemented in the country.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his intervention speech on RTI bill debate

in Lok Sabha in May 2005, said “I believe that the passage of this bill will

see the dawn of a new era in our processes of governance, an era of performance

and efficiency, an ear which will ensure that benefits of growth flow to all

sections of our people, an era which will eliminate the scourge of corruption,

an era which will bring the common man's concern to the heart of all processes

of governance, an era which will truly fulfill the hopes of the founding fathers

of our Republic.”

Backdrop

The Right to Information (RTI) is part of the fundamental right to freedom of

speech and expression, as mentioned in Article 19(1) of the constitution.

Despite this, the Indian governance system always followed the Official Secrets

Act 1923 (OSA) of the British era. Except for some minor changes done in 1967,

the Act still remains the same.

As a per OSA, disclosure of any information that is likely to affect the

sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, or friendly

relations with foreign States, is punishable. In the OSA clause 6, information

from any governmental office is considered official information, hence it can be

used to override freedom of information requests. On the basis of this, citizen's

right to know about te governance system was always denied.



Added to this, the widening gulf between Indian bureacracy and its citizens and
the common man's lack of knowledge to demand his rights, created an

unbreakable barrier between the government and the common man.

The journey to RTI Act

Objections to the Official Secrets Act have been raised since 1948, when the

Press Laws Enquiry Committee recommended certain amendments. However, Mazdoor

Kisaan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a grass roots organization in rural Rajasthan

initiated the right to information movement in a committed manner in the early

1990's. Set up by IAS officer-turned-activist Aruna Roy and several other

activists, MKSS demanded the rural villagers right to inspect official records

and to ensure a transparent administration. (For more info visit www.samarmagazine.org)

In 1996, National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) was set up
by a group of people and it became the platform for RTI campaigns in the

country. NCPRI and Press Council of India formulated an initial draft of a right

to information (RTI) law. This draft was sent to the Government of India in

1996. The Consumer Education Research Council (CERC) draft was the next effort

in RTI law, which was framed in lines with international standards.

In 1997, in a conference of chief ministers it was decided that the central

and state governments would work together on transparency and the right to

information. This was followed by central government agreeing to take immediate

steps to introduce freedom of information legislation, along with amendments to

the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Evidence Act, before the end of 1997.

In 1997, two states passed Right To Information legislation (Tamil Nadu and Goa).
Government of India appointed a working group, headed by former bureaucrat and

consumer rights activist HD Shourie, to draft what was reworked into the Freedom

of Information bill, 2000. The Freedom of Information bill was introduced in

parliament in 2002.

Meanwhile, RTI legislation was taken up by several other states in the

country. In August 2004, NCPRI called for certain amendments to the Freedom of

Information Act 2002 and it was forwarded to the National Advisory Council (NAC).

NAC recommended these amendments to the Prime Minister of India for further

action. Based on this the Right to Information Bill was introduced in Parliament

on 22 December 2004.

This bill had many shortcomings and hence amidst severe protests from RTI

activists, was referred to a standing committee of the parliament and to a group

of ministers. In the next session of Parliament, the bill with jurisdiction to

cover the whole of India was passed. The Act has come into effect all over India

from 13 October 2005.

Right to Information Act 2005 - Features

RTI Act came into force on the 12th October 2005 (120th day of its enactment

on 15th June, 2005). Some provisions in the Act have come into force with

immediate effect viz. obligations of public authorities , designation of

Public Information Officers and Assistant Public Information Officers 5(2)>, constitution of Central Information Commission (S.12 and 13),

constitution of State Information Commission (S.15 and 16), non-applicability of

the Act to Intelligence and Security Organizations (S.24) and power to make

rules to carry out the provisions of the Act (S.27 and 28). The Act extends to

the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

In the purview of RTI Act, Information means any material in any form

including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases,

circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data

material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private

body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the

time being in force but does not include "file notings" .

Right To Information Act includes the right to:



i. inspect works, documents, records.


ii. take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records.


iii. take certified samples of material.


iv. obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video
cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts.



(Source: http://persmin.nic.in/RTI/WebActRTI.htm)

The RTI Act has a wide reach and covers bodies like central government, the
state governments, Panchayati Raj institutions & local bodies,



bodies that are established, constituted, owned, controlled or substantially
financed by the government including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and

even private bodies will have to impart such information that the citizens ought

to know.

RTI Act and ICT

The RTI Act specifically mentions the use of ICT for enabling citizens' right
to information. The chapter II - 4 (1-a) of RTI Act states “Every public

authority shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner

and the form which facilitates the right to information under this Act and

ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerised are, within a

reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and

connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that

access to such records is facilitated”.



The Act further states, “It shall be a constant endeavour of every public
authority to take steps in accordance with the requirements of clause (b) of

sub-section (1) to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular

intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that

the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.”

(Kavitha Alexis is Senior Reporter of CIOL)