Right to Information (RTI): India
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“Moreover, as the judge has given his views in the judgment, he cannot give any other reason for his judgment, RTI Act query or otherwise. No party has a right to ask the judge concerned through RTI about the judgment,” the Bench said dismissing Gandaiah’s appeal. | “Moreover, as the judge has given his views in the judgment, he cannot give any other reason for his judgment, RTI Act query or otherwise. No party has a right to ask the judge concerned through RTI about the judgment,” the Bench said dismissing Gandaiah’s appeal. | ||
| + | ==Personal/ commercial gains, misuse of RTI for== | ||
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| + | [http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31808&articlexml=RTI-cannot-be-used-for-commercial-gains-CIC-31072017008054 Rumu Banerjee|RTI cannot be used for commercial gains: CIC|Jul 31 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)] | ||
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| + | The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that RTI cannot be used as a tool to exert pressure for commercial gains. The order came on a complaint filed by the editor of a magazine against the Dargah Khwaja Sahib Ajmer, which he complained had denied him information under the RTI Act. | ||
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| + | The appellant had complained against the public information officer of the dargah, who he said had denied him information under the RTI Act. The appellant had sought information on complaints filed against employees of the dargah and the status report of the inquiry conducted by the dargah. | ||
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| + | In his order, information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu, while directing the dargah to furnish the information to the appellant, observed that RTI Act could not be used “to build pressure“ for personal gains. The observation came after the public information officer of the dargah said the RTI applications were filed after the dargah stopped giving advertisements in the magazine edited by the appellant. The appellant, in a counter argument, had said that he had a “right“ to the advertisements. | ||
| + | [[File:RTI.png||frame|500px]] | ||
| + | In the order, Acharyulu said, “ As a journalist, appellant has every right to criticise the functioning of public authority . As a citizen, he can also file RTI application. But he has no right to demand advertisements for his magazine building pressure of RTI applications.“ Acharyulu also cited the Press Council of India Act, which allows a public authority to file a complaint against a journalist for unethical conduct, if any . The reminder came after the appellant said he had also filed a complaint to the Press Council of India against the dargah for not giving advertisement. | ||
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| + | The order assumes importance in the backdrop of complaints from several quarters about the misuse of the RTI Act. While the Act enables citizens to get information from government bodies on a host of issues, complaints of the misuse of the Act as a means of intimidation have also been doing the rounds. | ||
==Judges’ dictation to stenographer== | ==Judges’ dictation to stenographer== | ||
Revision as of 13:12, 8 September 2017
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Rules
118 separate sets of rules
One RTI Act, but 118 complications
The Times of India Himanshi Dhawan,TNN | Oct 12, 2014
India has one Right to Information (RTI) Act but 118 separate sets of rules formulated independently by states, courts, information commissioners, Parliament and state assemblies that run a maze around the legislation.
The rules dictate varied fees, application format, number of words, type of identity proof required and mode of payment making the process of seeking information a complex one.
Just ahead of the RTI Act turning 10 on October 13, a report "Peoples Monitoring of the RTI regime in India-2011-2013" by Raag and NCPRI paints a bleak picture.
For instance 34 states and UTs have prescribed application fee of Rs 10. But cost of pursuing an RTI application could range between Rs 50 to Rs 100 excluding cost of information. Haryana charges Rs 50 for all RTI applications while Arunachal Pradesh charges Rs 50 for most applications but Rs 500 for information related to bids, tenders or business contracts.
Only Andhra Pradesh has cut down on the fees — Rs 10 for cities, free of cost for village level and Rs 5 for subdistrict level.
Sikkim charges Rs 100 for both first and second appeal, while filing a first appeal in Madhya Pradesh costs Rs 50 and a second appeal Rs 100. While the central government has mandated Rs 2 per photocopy, Chhatisgarh has limited the number to 50 pages while Arunachal charges Rs 10.
To complicate things further, inspection of documents is allowed free of cost by some states for the first hour and then charges of Rs 5 are levied in Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Sikkim and Uttarakhand. The cost of inspection of documents in Daman and Diu is Rs 100 a day for a maximum of 3 hours and if the information sought is older by a decade or more, the public authority can charge an additional Rs 25 an hour.
States have also placed odd restrictions on the format of the application. In Karnataka, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra the length of the RTI application cannot exceed more than 150 words while the Centre has mandated a 500 word limit.
There are similar inconsistencies in rules related to proof of identity required by public authorities. While the RTI act does not mandate any proof of identity section 3 does say that only Indian citizens can use the law. This has led to states like Goa, Gujarat, Odisha, Sikkim insisting on identity proof of the applicant.
Whistleblowers Act
The Times of India, May 05 2016
Whistleblower law not effected, activists fume
Two years after the Whistleblowers Act was first passed, the legislation continues to hang in limbo even as RTI activists continue to pay for government negligence with their lives. Around 60 RTI activists have been murdered and hundreds assaulted since 2002.
RTI activists under the aegis of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) slammed the Modi government for its failure to bring in anti-corruption legislations, including Whistleblowers Act, Prevention of Corruption Act, Lokpal bill and the grievance redress bill.
NCPRI's Anjali Bhardwaj said even though the government came to power on the plank of anti-corruption and good governance, it had failed to live up to any of its promiseson these legislations.
The demand for a comprehensive Whistleblowers Protection Act picked up after Satyendra Dubey, an engineer on the golden quadrilateral project, was murdered for exposing corruption in the project. Finally in 2014, after 12 years, the Act was passed when families of whistleblowers and activists of NCPRI held protests for over 20 days. The Act provides protection of identity for whistleblowers and has provision for their security .
However, instead of promulgating rules to operationalise the whistleblowers law, the government has moved an amendment bill in Parliament which seeks to severely dilute the Act, Nikhil Dey from NCPRI said.
The amendments seek to remove safeguards available to whistleblowers from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act and also introduce wide-ranging exclusions by stating that disclosures should not contain information which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty , integrity, security , strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State.
Applicability of RTI
Daughter-in-law’s right to information about assets
Rumu Banerjee, Can disclose pension info to bahu: CIC , August 3, 2017: The Times of India
The central information commission has ruled that a daughter-in-law has a right to information on pension arrears of her father-in-law. The order came in a case after the department of posts refused to share the information citing the right to privacy of a third party.
In a scathing order, information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said it reflected the lack of knowledge of law displayed by the chief information officer of the department of posts. “It is pathetic that the CPIO did not bother to know the 2005 amendment to Hindu Succession Act, according to which sons and marriedunmarried daughters will have equal share and the family of the deceased son (wife, sons and daughters) will get the unit of that deceased son,“ Acharyulu said. The commission ordered the department of posts to disclose the information to the appellant and also issued a show cause notice to the public information officers as to why they should not be penalised for “illegally denying the information sought“.
Government departments, expenditure by
Anjaya Anparthi
May 11, 2015
Government department spending more on providing RTI info than fee charged
Despite clear orders, government departments continue to spend more on providing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act than the charges recovered from applicants. The departments are wasting public money and machinery while violating the norms. Also, RTI activists and applicants are forced to face inconvenience.
TOI had reported how NMC was demanding Rs 6-8 to provide information under the RTI Act and asking applicants to deposit the paltry sum at its head office only. Following a complaint from RTI activist TH Naidu, the State Information Commission directed the civic body to make arrangements to collect RTI charges at zone offices.
Naidu and another RTI activist Avinash Prabhune say that the government departments should not even ask applicants to pay the paltry charges, but focus on giving the right information in the first instance. "In fact, government departments like NMC, Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and district administration are violating RTI rules. Government departments are supposed to display information asked under the RTI Act on its website. It will help applicants get the information from the website without any stress or charges. The government departments will save time and machinery along with expenses," the latter said.
Prabhune added government departments are not following the state government notification dated September 6, 2008. "Government had made it very clear that there was no meaning in spending Rs 50 or more on providing information under the RTI Act when the charges recovered are Rs 10 or less. The government officials first send letter asking us to pay charges and then provide information through another communication. This wastes valuable government resources like manpower, office hours, stationary and postal charges in case the fee is less than Rs 10. Besides, the applicants have to spend much more than charges and time. Therefore, the government directed the public information officers to provide information immediately if the charges to be recovered are very less lesser as compared to the conveyance or postal charges," he said.
Prabhune added that government officials are using the tool of communications to deliberately delay the information. "Many departments do not provide information in first instance. Applicants have to go for appeal after appeal. Many cases go up to the state information commission. Thus, the government is wasting so much money and time of the applicants too. The government had time and again directed public information officials to dispose off applications in first instance but not many are following it," he said.
Prabhune also said the state should not recover fee for appeals under the RTI Act. "Central government offices do not specify any fee for filing first and second appeal. The state charges Rs 20 for first and second appeal. Different norms are existing under one act," he said.
IB’s corruption files can be disclosed
In a verdict widening the ambit of the Right To Information Act, the Delhi high court has declared that Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports concerning cases of corruption and human rights violation fall under the transparency law.These can be disclosed under the RTI Act, as long as they don't affect core security and intelligence operations of security agencies.
The HC declared that the exemption clause under the RTI Act can't be invoked if the information pertains to allegations of corruption and human rights violation.
“The proviso is not qualified and conditional on the information being related to the intelligence or security organisation exempted by the Act. If the information sought or furnished by the exempt organisation pertains to allegations of corruption and hu man rights violation, it would be exempt from the exclusion clause,“ ruled Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva.
The verdict came on an appeal filed by IB against an order by the Central Information Commission, asking it to disclose a report generated for the ministry of forest & environment on alleged harassment and false cases filed against IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi, for exposing graft during his tenure as forest officer in Haryana.
Chaturvedi sought a copy of the IB report through RTI, citing to the CIC that he ought to know its details, since the report refers to alleged corruption by public servants who harassed him.
The IB report, prepared in 2014, was submitted in relation to false cases filed against him by “corrupt“ officers exposed by him.
Income tax details of judges
CIC: SC can’t give I-T details of judges
Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
New Delhi: In a rare instance, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has agreed with the Supreme Court and said that its registry could not be asked under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to provide details of the income tax returns filed by its judges.
In earlier instances — be it declaration of assets by the judges or revealing the details of the collegium meeting process for appointment of judges — the CIC’s ruling advocating transparency had been challenged by the apex court first before the Delhi high court and then before the Supreme Court.
But, on the income tax return details of the judges, the CIC saw reason to agree with the SC’s response to an RTI query and agreed with its counsel Devdatt Kamat that the registry did not have the details of the information sought by RTI applicant Dr Lal Bahadur.
Chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, in a five-page decision, said: “It should be clear that it is not the Supreme Court that would hold information on the income tax returns of the high court judges even at the time of their elevation as Supreme Court judges, coming as they are, from different states in the country.”
“Application will then have to be made to the department of revenue, ministry of finance, that administers income tax for all,” Habibullah said.
The original RTI application was filed by Dr Bahadur before the Supreme Court, which routed it to the ministry of law and justice. The ministry returned it to the apex court and tersely said: “Perhaps the Supreme Court of India could be in a better position to furnish the information, as sought by the RTI application.”
Income details of spouse
Feb 07 2015
Himanshi Dhawan
Details of your property , investments and assets can be accessed by your spouse under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The Central Information Commission (CIC) passed the judgment on Friday while dealing with the case of an applicant -an estranged wife and an alleged victim of domestic violence.
Overruling arguments that income details of someone is “personal information“, it directed Delhi Transco, where her husband works, to provide the relevant documents to her as it constituted her right to life.
In this particular case, the applicant had sought to know the details of her husband's property , including that given in dowry , and action taken against him for attempting to commit bigamy and abandoning her without financial support. So far such information has been considered exempt under the RTI Act and treated as private or third party information.
Ruling that the larger public interest overrides exemption under privacy of an individual, information commissioner M Shridhar Acharyulu said that the public information officer in Delhi Transco could not reject the request for such information if filed by the woman because the protection of privacy is overridden by the huge public interest in the duty of a government official to provide maintenance to his wife and children and not indulge in domestic violence.
The commission ordered the firm to furnish the man's income details within 48 hours. Citing a recent Delhi high court order, the CIC said that the court had asked both husband and wife to submit affidavits of income, assets and investments which were considered personal or third party information earlier. “Depending on the financial condition or non-availability of support from parents when husband does not maintain his wife, it challenges her right to live, and thus information related to maintenance becomes life related information,“ the order had said.
Judgments: RTI Act does not apply
SC: RTI Act doesn’t apply to judgments
Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
New Delhi: Can a judge be asked under the Right to Information (RTI) Act as to why and how he came to a particular conclusion in a judgment?
No, says the Supreme Court. The apex court saw the mischief potential of queries under the RTI Act in relation to a judge and his judgments and a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan firmly said that a judge speaks through his judgments and he could not be made to answer questions relating to his verdict in a case.
“A judge speaks through his judgments and he is not answerable to anyone as to why he wrote a judgment in a particular manner,” the Bench said dismissing an appeal filed by one Khanapuram Gandaiah, who had not even challenged the verdict in his case before an appellate forum.
What he asked using an RTI query was why the judge concerned did not consider parts of his submissions, parts of the voluminous documents while additionally putting questions about other aspects of the judgment against him.
Terming all these grievances as valid grounds for filing an appeal, which Gandaiah did not, the Bench minced no words in criticising the appellant for resorting to the RTI Act rather than seeking remedy before higher courts. Gandaiah had made an appliaction under Section 6 of RTI Act, which provides that any information possessed by a public authority under the Act has to be given to an applicant on such a request made either electronically or in writing. The District Judge had rejected his RTI plea.
The Bench agreed with the rejection of his plea seeking information about the judgment under the RTI Act and said: “A judge can only speak through his judgments and he cannot be made to go on explaining why he took a particular view in a judgment.”
“Moreover, as the judge has given his views in the judgment, he cannot give any other reason for his judgment, RTI Act query or otherwise. No party has a right to ask the judge concerned through RTI about the judgment,” the Bench said dismissing Gandaiah’s appeal.
Personal/ commercial gains, misuse of RTI for
Rumu Banerjee|RTI cannot be used for commercial gains: CIC|Jul 31 2017 : The Times of India (Delhi)
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that RTI cannot be used as a tool to exert pressure for commercial gains. The order came on a complaint filed by the editor of a magazine against the Dargah Khwaja Sahib Ajmer, which he complained had denied him information under the RTI Act.
The appellant had complained against the public information officer of the dargah, who he said had denied him information under the RTI Act. The appellant had sought information on complaints filed against employees of the dargah and the status report of the inquiry conducted by the dargah.
In his order, information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu, while directing the dargah to furnish the information to the appellant, observed that RTI Act could not be used “to build pressure“ for personal gains. The observation came after the public information officer of the dargah said the RTI applications were filed after the dargah stopped giving advertisements in the magazine edited by the appellant. The appellant, in a counter argument, had said that he had a “right“ to the advertisements.
In the order, Acharyulu said, “ As a journalist, appellant has every right to criticise the functioning of public authority . As a citizen, he can also file RTI application. But he has no right to demand advertisements for his magazine building pressure of RTI applications.“ Acharyulu also cited the Press Council of India Act, which allows a public authority to file a complaint against a journalist for unethical conduct, if any . The reminder came after the appellant said he had also filed a complaint to the Press Council of India against the dargah for not giving advertisement.
The order assumes importance in the backdrop of complaints from several quarters about the misuse of the RTI Act. While the Act enables citizens to get information from government bodies on a host of issues, complaints of the misuse of the Act as a means of intimidation have also been doing the rounds.
Judges’ dictation to stenographer
PTI, Notes of judges' stenos not under RTI: HC, Oct 10 2016
Notes dictated by a judge to a stenographer during the hearing of a case would not be considered as a record held by a public authority and hence cannot be sought under the Right to Information Act, the high court has ruled.
“Shorthand notebook can at best be treated as a memo of what is dictated to a steno to be later transcribed into a draft judgement or an order.
“When draft judgements and order do not form part of a `record' held by a public authority , a shorthand notebook which is a memo of what is dictated and which would later be typed to become a draft judgement or an order can certainly not be held to be `record' held by a public authority,“ Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said.
The court further clarified that shorthand notebooks were not retained and cannot be equated with a judgement or an order, which forms part of the judicial record. The ruling came in a judgement dismissing the plea of a man seeking copies of the shorthand notebooks in which the stenographer takes dictation of the court.
The court upheld the March 7 order of Central Information Commission (CIC) by which petitioner Tapan Choudhury was denied copies of shorthand notes taken in the high court on May 27, 2013.
The petitioner was denied the information by the Public Information Officer of the HC, who said that shorthand notes were not retained.The first appellate authority had also held that “no such record was maintained and thus the same cannot be furnished“ to the petitioner.
Justice Sachdeva in his decision also relied on a full bench judgement of HC, which had held that even draft judgements are not to be considered as final judgement but only a tentative view liable to change.
NGOs, govt aided
From the archives of The Times of India 2010
NGOs getting govt aid in RTI ambit: HC
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has held that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which get government funds should come under the purview of RTI Act making it mandatory for them to disclose information pertaining to their functioning.
‘‘The term public authority has been given a broad meaning not only to include bodies which are owned, controlled or substantially financed directly or indirectly by the government but even NGOs, which are financed directly or indirectly by the government,’’ justice Sanjeev Khanna said while declaring the stock exchanges as public authorities in a recent order.
The court said it is not necessary that the government should have pervasive and deep control over an organization to bring it under the purview of the Transparency Act. ‘‘Even private organizations, which are enjoying benefit of substantial funding directly or indirectly from the governments, fall within the definition of public authorities under the Act,’’ the court said.
The court made these observations while passing an order on a petition filed by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) challenging a Central Information Commission order which had directed it to disclose information under the Act. The court dismissed the NSE plea that it cannot be forced to reveal information to public under RTI.
Prosecution information: Sharing with accused
The Times of India, Aug 01 2016
The Central Information Commission (CIC) has given a split verdict on holding information on the basis of which sanction of prosecution was sought by the CBI.It said the information cannot be disclosed as it would prejudicially affect prosecution.
Dissenting with the verdict, information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said the basic tenet of the criminal justice system is that an accused should be given every bit of information.
The CIC refused to pass a verdict on whether the CBI could claim immunity from disclosure as it is on the list of organisations that are exempt from provisions of the RTI Act except when information sought is related to allegations of graft and rights violations.The majority decision by information commissioners Sudhir Bhargava and Sharat Sabharwal was since CIC had earlier taken two different stands and the matter is at a high court, it wouldn't pass an order.
Public authority
Attorney General is not a public authority
HC: AG not a public authority under RTI, Feb 4, 2017: The Times of India
The Delhi high court held that the office of the Attorney General of India is not a “public authority“ as defined under the Right to Infomation Act, since AG's “predominant function“ is to give advice on legal matters to the government.
A division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath reversed the decision of a single judge and observed that the AG appears in court on behalf of the government of India, having a fiduciary relationship with the government, due to which his opinions cannot be put in the public domain.
The court set aside a March 2015 verdict by a single judge, which had said the office of the top law officer was answerable to public under the transparency law as he performs public functions and is a Constitutional appointee.
“Essentially , the function being that akin to an advocate of the government, he is in a fiduciary relationship with the Centre and cannot put in the public domain his opinions or the materials forwarded to him by the government,“ the Chief Justice's bench noted in its verdict on Friday .
HC added that, “The service of the AG is to advice the government on legal matters and perform other duties such of a legal character as may be assigned. The AG is not a functionary reposed with any administrative or other authority that effect the rights or liabilities of persons.“
Rulings/ judgements
6,443 applications against IAF, which lacks accountability
Wing Commander Sanjeev Sharma (retired) was a one-man army, filing as many as 6,443 Right to Information (RTI) applications in the last three years with the ostensible purpose of fighting corruption within his parent organisation, the Indian Air Force, over the misuse of “non-public funds“ and other issues.
But they virtually came to a naught earlier this month, with the Central Information Commission dismissing his appeals on the ground that “the means adopted by the appellant regrettably speaks volumes of his ignorance of the spirit of the RTI Act“.
Information commissioner Divya Prakash Sinha, however, did take note of the “accountability , which appears to be lacking“ in the IAF on the issues raised by Sharma. Issuing an advisory to the IAF chief and defence secretary , Sinha said the number of central public information officers and assistant public information officers should be increased in all the com mands of the IAF. “It should be incumbent on the controlling officers to conduct appropriate workshops and sensitisation programmes regarding the various provisions of the RTI Act,“ said Sinha.
Sharma, an advocate in the Punjab and Haryana high court, had sought information on a whole range of issues, from spen ding of contingency funds by commanding officers and acceptance of giftsdonations to the killing of wildlife and felling of trees in air force stations. He contended that though he was proud of the IAF, there was a “parallel economy“ running in the force, with non-public funds being misused by the hierarchy .
But the IAF said Sharma, who had been “diagnosed as a case of generalised anxiety disorder“ before he took premature retirement in 2013, had taken to filing “RTI applications with a vindictive attitude“ and most of them were “vexatious and repetitive in nature“.
State-wise
Uttar Pradesh: poor performance under RTI
UP government's RTI record miserable: Study
Ashish Tripathi,TNN | Feb 26, 2014
Section 4 of the RTI Act says that every public authority shall maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed and ensure that they get computerized so that all important details related to these public authorities get published within 120 days of enactment of this Act. However, a study conducted by RTI activists Amitabh Thakur and Nutan Thakur.reveals that ground realities of Uttar Pradesh government are contrary to the mandate.
The couple studied the status of RTI in 81 Departments of the UP Government mentioned at the Home page of the website (http://upgov.nic.in/allsites.asp), particularly related to the mandatory information that needs to be provided under section 4(1)(b). The study found that almost none have provided the rules, regulations, instructions, manuals and records, required for discharging functions in the electronic form.
It was also found that in many cases information provided was old. In fact, some of websites of departments are still carrying names of ministers in previous BSP rule - Nasimuddin Siddique in cane development, Narayan Singh in horticulture, Lalji Verma in parliamentary affairs and JN Rai in handloom department. These ministers left office in March 2012. Similarly, the names of retired officers like RK Sharma in the horticulture, Sri Krishna in handloom and SC Gupta in the IT department can also be found in respective websites.
Names of the public information officers and Appellate Authority of many departments are also old. In many cases only names have been provided with no other necessary detail. Further, while many departments have not provided details of annual budget, some departments have uploaded budgets but they are of financial years 2008-09 or 2009-10.
Departments like basic education, coordination, culture, finance, fisheries, infrastructure development etc have provided almost negligible information. Samagra gram vikas, small scale industries and export promotion departments do not even mention about the RTI Act while revenue and vidhai departments have links to the RTI section but these links are not operational. The governor office has information only in English while the chief minister office has limited information provided under RTI Act.
RTI activists
2005-15: Silencing RTI activists through murder
The Times of India, Sep 06 2015
Anahita Mukherji
Maha most unsafe for RTI activists, 10 killed in 10 years
Gujarat & UP follow with 6 murders each
Data compiled by the Comonwealth Human Rights Initiative shows 60 RTI activists were attacked, harassed or killed in the state, the highest for the country . When it comes to murders, Gujarat and UP come second with six each, followed by Karnataka and Bihar with four each. Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of murders or harassments -60 -of RTI activists since the law was passed a decade ago, followed by Gujarat (36), UP (25) and Delhi (23).
“While we have no idea how many RTI applications are filed in UP , available data shows us that the highest number of RTI applications filed across India is from Maharashtra. This may have to do with organized networks of social activists and a long tradition of using RTI. People are more aware of social problems in the state. With such high volumes of RTI applications seeking information on accountability and governance and exposing corruption, it's natural that a number of activists will be under threat for taking on powerful people,“ says Venkatesh Nayak of Comonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).
That a lion's share of RTI applications in the state are filed over land use may have much to do with why many of the RTI activists killed in Maharashtra were working on exposing land scams. Take for instance Abrar Shaikh, who was working to expose illegal construction in Bhiwandi when he was killed, or slain activist Vasant Patil who sought information on illegal construction in Mumbai.
Compensation for activist denied police protection, injured
The Times of India, May 27 2016
Prafulla Marpakwar
Maha pays RTI activist Rs 10L for not protecting him
In a first of its kind, the Maharashta home department led by CM Devendra Fadanvis has paid Rs 10 lakh to an RTI activist as interim compensation following an order passed by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) headed by former Chief Justice S R Bannurmath.
Since Arun Sawant had sought information on some politicians and public servants, he was apprehending danger to his life. On February 9, 2010, Sawant had requested the Thane police commissioner to provide him police protection but his plea was ignored.Two persons fired at him and he was seriously injured on February 26, 2010.
Justice Bhannurmath had passed the order on September 2, 2015, while a cheque of Rs 10 lakh was handed over to Sawant by a senior official of the Thane Police commissionerate a week ago. “After the proposal was approved, a cheque was handed over to the RTI activist, a senior IPS official told.
An SHRC official said it was found that the state government was reluctant to implement the order, as the commission does not have executive powers to implement its directives.
“I think, in the recent past, it is highest amount paid to an RTI activist. We are glad the government has implemented the order, he said.
2005-16: 56 deaths
Himanshi Dhawan, Death toll of RTI activists goes up to 56, Oct 20 2016 : The Times of India
Maha Tops List Of Attacks, Gujarat Follows
The son of a former Mumbai corporator under the scanner for alleged illegal constructions has confessed to the murder of an RTI activist in the city last week, police said on Wednesday . The victim, 61year-old Bhupendra Vira, was known to challenge illegal constructions and had filed several RTI petitions against former municipal official Razzak Khan's properties.
Police said Khan's son Amjad, 40, admitted during custodial interrogation that he shot Vira with a 7.65 bore countrymade pistol. A police officer said they were in the process of recovering the murder weapon.
Police picked up Amjad, Razzak's youngstest son, after a witness said he saw him in the vicinity of the crime scene. Amjad has told police his father is innocent, and didn't know about the plan to murder Vira. Police said the weapon had no silencer but it was possible that no one heard the gunshot since only one bullet was fired, and that too with a TV on at the scene. Amjad is believed to have told police that he was upset with a demolition notice issued to Razzak by the lokayukta. His father is said to have been “disturbed“ about Vira's RTI pleas. Amjad reportedly told police he got the weapon in 2010, the year Vira's son Mayur was attacked by Razzak and Amjad.
The duo, who were arrested, struck after Mayur fought with them for allegedly grabbing his 600sqft godown. With the recent murder of RTI activist Bhupendra Vira's, the death toll of those using the transparency law to target corruption and malpractices has gone up to 56. In fact, there has been more than 311 instances of harassment of citizens including murder, attacks and intimidation from the time the law came into force in 2005, according to an analysis by Delhi-based advocacy group CHRI.
Reports indicate at least 51 murders and five suicides have taken place between October 2005 to 2016. Maharashtra tops this list with 10 alleged murders and at least two suicides (12 deaths) followed by Gujarat with eight alleged murders and one suicide (nine deaths) and Uttar Pradesh with six alleged murders and one suicide (seven deaths).
In addition, there have been at least 130 instances of attacks or assaults, including attempts to murder RTI users, during this period. The total number of persons attacked or assaulted could be more because more than one person was attacked in some incidents. Again, Maharashtra tops this list with 29 incidents, followed by Gujarat (15 incidents), Delhi (12 incidents), Karnataka (10 incidents), Odisha and Uttar Pradesh (9 incidents each).
Meanwhile, the whistleblo wers protection law which was passed by Parliament in February 2014 has not been enacted to date. The BJP government had told Parliament that it planned to amend the law.
“The current status of the WBP Amendment Bill is not clear. On April 28, MoS to PMO Jitendra Singh said in Parliament that the Whistle Blowers Protection Amendment Bill had been sent to a committee. However, in response to an RTI application, the Rajya Sabha secretariat has stated on August 16, 2016, that the bill is not pending with any parliamentary committee, Anjali Bharadwaj of NCPRI said.
National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has demanded an inqu iry into the murder of Vira. In a letter written to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, the NGO has asked for Vira's RTI applications and the replies placed in the public domain. According to reports, he had filed several RTI applications and was leading a campaign against the land mafia for unauthorised structures and encroachments in and around Kalina, Mumbai.
“The NCPRI strongly condemns the attack. We urge the Maharashtra government to ensure a thorough investigation into the murder of Bhupendra Vira. The state government must ensure that all the information sought by Vira is put in the public domain and widely publicised, which would act as a deterrent against such attacks in the future. Further, the state must look into the various cases of wrongdoing exposed by him and take stringent action against the guilty, the letter said.
2017 provisions endanger whistleblowers’ lives
New RTI provisions endanger whistleblowers' lives: Activists, April 4, 2017: The Times of India
A new provision that allows for an RTI case to be closed in the event of death of the applicant has come under criticism from activists who fear that this will encourage attacks on whistleblowers.The provision is part of the draft RTI rules made public by the Modi government recently, which replace the 2012 provisions, do not have any new clauses either for increasing the fees or prescribing a wordlimit to the application.
The proposed rules have been placed by the department of personnel and training on its website for comments from public. The controversial clause says, “The proceedings pending before the Commission shall abate on the death of the appellant. In 2017, there have been more than 375 recorded cases of attacks on citizens who sought information to expose corruption and wrongdoing in various public authorities. Of these, 56 are murders, at least 157 cases of physical assault and more than 160 cases of harassment and threats -some of which have resulted in death by sui cide, activists said.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative's (CHRI) Venkatesh Nayak said, “By legally permitting withdrawal of appeals vested interests will feel emboldened to pressurise RTI users to withdraw their appeals before the CIC. If this proposed rule becomes law at the Centre, most other states will make similar amendments, thereby unwittingly jeopardising the life and safety of RTI users. These amend ments must not be allowed to go through when the Whistleblower Protection Act, 2011has been put in cold storage.“
A new proposal now allows the CIC to convert a complaint into second appeal which would mean it can order the disclosure of information to an applicant who has come under complaint clause of the RTI Act which was not the case earlier. This follows a Supreme Court order that had said that the CIC while hearing a plea under complaint clause cannot order disclosure of the information which can only be provided if the person is approaching it under second appeal or Section 19 of the Act.
Some activists criticised the short time period of a fortnight offered for comments.“The time given is too less.How will people know that something like this is placed on website for them to give opinion,“ RTI activist Comm (retd) Lokesh Batra said.
Penalty rarely imposed
Reluctance to penalize weakening RTI: Study
Himanshi Dhawan The Times of India Oct 26 2014 New Delhi:
Information commissioners across the country are using a light touch to tackle RTI complaints sparing imposition of penalty in over 96% of the cases according to an independent study.
Penalties have been imposed in just 3870 or 3.72% of the cases between January 2012 to December 2013 in 21 information commissions across the country. Activists say that commissions are turning a blind eye to delays or complete denial of information which can sound the death knell for implementation of the RTI act.
There are three million RTIs filed every year but only a fraction reach up to the level of appeal. The RaaG-NCPRI study on the RTI act reveals that between January 2012 to December 2013 3.89 lakh complaints and appeals were received by the Central Information Commission and 25 information commissions. Of these 3.06 lakh or 79% were disposed off. Based on RTI responses from 21 information commissions, the study found that 2.21 lakh cases had been dis posed of between January 2012 to No vember 2013. Analysis of orders sug gests that penalty should have been imposed on 1.04 lakh cases but in fact information commissions imposed it only on 3870 cases. The quantum of penalty imposed was about Rs 5.03 crore in 22 states. Shockingly only Rs 85.57 lakh was recovered by 18 states.
Maharashtra imposed penalty in the maximum number of cases (844) while the quantum of penalty--Rs 1.27 crore-was the highest in Karnataka. Madhya Pradesh imposed penalty only in two cases, Tripura in one case while West Bengal's information commission was equally generous imposing penalty in just three cases. Commissions can impose Rs 250 per day as penalty up to a maximum of Rs 25,000.
Information commissions are also empowered to award compensation to a complainant for the loss suffered. Despite the large percentage of appeals and complaints that result in wrongful denial or delay in providing information compensation has been awarded in only 1339 cases. The amount of compensation imposed was Rs 29.68 lakh of which only about Rs 4.07 lakh was recovered. Karnataka and Haryana information commissions awarded the highest amount of compensation Rs 7.69 lakh and Rs 7.50 lakh.
Overall performance: RTI
The Times of India, Jul 14 2015
Anahita Mukherji
Data mined by the Common wealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) shows that an estimated 40-50 lakh people over the age of 18 used RTI between 2012 and 2014 -that's 0.5-0.6% of the electorate. However, there has also been a 57% spike in first appeals over the last year, taking them to 94,945. This shows rising dissatisfaction with replies received under RTI. The CHRI data shows that 280-odd activists have allegedly been harassed, assaulted or killed till date. Vacancies continue to plague various information commissions. Retired bureaucrats make up a disproportionately high number of information commissioners; women commissioners are few. Moreover, various states' information commissions differ over how much information they share on their websites.
Stonewalling information
The Central Information Commission (CIC) reported 60,127 RTI applications rejected by PIOs (public information officers) in 2013-14. 57% Increase in first appeals over the last year to 94,945. Rejections and first appeals are indicators of people's dissatisfaction with information received under RTI.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are cases where RTIs are not rejected but replies are sketchy and evasive. Not all such cases result in second appeals because applicants often don't have the time or energy to pursue the matter.
While four information commissions are headless, the remaining 25 (including the CIC) are headed by retired civil servants. Over 76% of chief information commissioners are retired IAS officers, up from 69% in 2014.
Only Nagaland's information commission is headed by a woman; just 12.6% of India's information commissioners are women.
The large proportion of retired civil servants heading information commissions continues despite the Supreme Court advocating diversity among the post holders. “I find this a big problem,“ says Venkatesh Nayak of CHRI. “Many retired bureaucrats may have received RTI applications to their departments while they were serving bureaucrats, and now find themselves hearing those very same cases in their role as information commissioners. That amounts to hearing your own cases, or being a judge in your own court,“ he adds.
RTI activist and former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi feels most people appointed as information commissioners are not fit for the job, and lack both the skills and commitment for the position. He advocates a transparent process for selecting information commissioners.
Activists under attack 279
The number of cases of alleged murder, attacks, harassment of RTI activists till July 2015.This includes 39 murders, 4 suicides & 231 cases of assault or harassment.
“The incidence of assault against RTI activists is extremely unfortunate, especially in a country whose motto is Satyamev Jayate (the truth shall prevail). When people ask for the truth from their government, it is the job of the state to ensure they are not harmed,“ says Nayak.
Gandhi, however, points out that RTI activists aren't the only ones to get attacked. “Anyone who challenges the powerful is under threat.“ he says.
Website update
Only 20.7% of information commissions have displayed annual reports on their websites for 2013-14. These include the central information commission and state commissions of Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Rajasthan. MP, Manipur, Tripura and UP commissions have never published annual reports on their official websites. Only 27.5% of websites display case disposal statistics up to 2014-15. 41% of information commissions display the current status of pending appeals and complaints. Nearly 75% of information commissions don't have a website in the local language. In this day and age, when a lot of people using RTI are from urban areas and are internetliterate, it is important for information commissions to provide access to information on what the commission is doing in real time on their website, says Nayak, adding that this would result in more transparency and accountability .
Misuse of RTI
UP: Settling personal scores
The Times of India, Dec 06 2015
Neha Shukla
UP families take RTI route to settle personal scores
Right to Information Act 2005, conceived to bring transparency in the system by providing government information to citizens, is being used by some residents of Uttar Pradesh to meet a different goal: settling family disputes. Information commissioner (IC) of UP State Information Commission (UPSIC) Hafiz Rehman told that in the last one year, his court heard six cases where family members confronted each other. Most such cases relate to property disputes and are pending in various courts.Quick hearing and saving on hefty fee which is otherwise paid to a lawyer have made the RTI route popular.
The latest is the case of a man from Badaun who filed an appeal with the UPSIC seeking information about his wife, a government teacher in Baghpat.
He filed the appeal after school authorities refused to give him details of his wife's attendance and salary .
“My wife wants me to abandon my parents and stay with her. She says she cannot give up her job to stay with me,“ he said in his appeal. “She does not go to work.School authorities are hand in glove with her and she gets salary for doing nothing. If I could get her attendance record to prove this, she will lose her job,“ he added.
Interestingly, the man's father had helped his wife get a job but she deserted him soon after. “He told me he is ready to make peace with his wife provided she gives up her job and stays with him,“ said Usman, who has issued a notice to the wife to appear in the next hearing and directed school authorities to provide the information.
Few families have also reached a happy ending. Like this woman from Bareilly who approached the commission to know whether her husband was a low caste Muslim after his workplace refused to give his caste certificate. The woman was seeking divorce saying her husband had kept his caste hidden for 15 years of their marriage.The husband, however, said it was his refusal to throw his sister out of the house that led the marriage to such a pass.The couple later reached a compromise after counseling by the commission.
Quite a few family disputes are pending at UPSIC, to be taken up for hearing this month. The case of a man from Muzaffarnagar who has sought `marriage certificate' of his sister-in-law to prove she is not the wife of his late brother and should not get his property is one of them. Interestingly , he is also a claimant to his brother's property .
In few cases involving family disputes, RTI information has become the basis of police inquiry. Take the case of Mithlesh Kumari from Bijnor who was given 60 bighas of land by her father-in-law.Her husband's younger brother's wife allegedly used fake identity certificate to pose as Mithlesh and sold off a portion of the land. The KYC details sought from the bank, where the imposter had deposited the money after the land deal, revealed the truth.
Bihar: turning schools into marriage bureaux
You would expect government school headmasters to have better things to do than to create an exhaustive list of unmarried people of a particular community among their teachers. But that is precisely what authorities in Haryana's 10,000-odd government schools are doing these days -creating a databank of eligible single people from the Punjabi community .
The harried headmasters are creating the data after a woman from Rewari filed an RTI application with the Haryana education department for the information. Instead of questioning the application's intent, it was promptly sent to all schools of the state. TOI is withholding the applicant's name as she is herself embarrassed with the query to day . Sources said the woman was looking for a marriage alliance for a relative, who is also a teacher. She filed the RTI query as she simply wanted to know abo ut a specific teacher at a school in Karnal.
But the applica tion asked the infor mation officer to provide her with the name, address and phone number of all elementary school teachers. The government readily obliged and thus began a laborious exercise.
Under the RTI law, personal information can be given only with the consent of the person concerned, making matters even more difficult for the school authorities.
There are some 60,000 ele mentary teachers in schools across Haryana from which the marital status of Punjabis has to be culled out.
“We are careful in such cases as the information can often be misused, especially when it comes to unmarried women,“ said PK Das, Haryana additional chief secretary (school education).
Superintendent of the education department, Balbir Singh, has asked district education officers of all 21 districts to send the requisite information by email or fax. “You will be responsible for any delay , for that you will be liable for disciplinary action apart from penalty of Rs 250 daily as per section 5.4 of the Act,“ Singh has warned in the letter.
Number of RTIs filed
2013-14
The Times of India, Jul 03 2015
Himanshi Dhawan
Indians use RTI to the hilt, but govt fails to keep up
Curious Indians are prolific users of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and public authorities are unable to keep them satisfied. Indian citizens have filed close to 50 lakh RTIs in a year (2013-2014) but the number of rejections and appeals indicate that public authorities are often failing to give the information that people are seeking. A country-wide study on the functioning of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and state information commissions by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) reveals that the number of RTIs has increased exponentially . While the number of RTI applications in the Jammu & Kashmir has increased by 127%, the same for Rajasthan has almost doubled. Gujarat has recorded 41% increase in the number of RTI applications while Karnataka witnessed a 31% rise within a year.
The study `State of Information Commissions and the Use of RTI laws in India' by CHRI's Venkatesh Nayak found that public authorities under the central government received the most number of RTI applications in 2013-14 at 8.34 lakh (with 73% public authorities revealing the number of applicants).Maharashtra came in second with 7.03 lakh RTI applications. In fact, between the central government and Maharashtra, the two received 62% of RTI applications among the 12 commissions that submitted their details.
If the increase in the number of RTIs is a heartening sign, the rejections of applications are not. CIC reported that 60,127 RTI applications were rejected by public information officers in 2013-14, the number of first appeals filed with various First Appellate Authorities (FAAs) was 57% higher at 94,945. “However, the number of first appeals is disproportionately large and indicates lack of satisfaction amongst the RTI applicants with the information or reply provided by the PIOs,“ the report says.
Nagaland clocked a 1,325% increase in the number of first appeals (228) filed as against the number of rejections (16) at the application stage.
2014-15
The Times of India, Mar 18 2016
Himanshi Dhawan
Decline in RTI queries & replies worries activists
In a blow to transparency in governance, the number of RTI queries have declined as have the number of public authorities submitting data on the legislation.The annual report of the Central Information Commission (CIC) shows that a total of 7.55 lakh RTI applications were filed in 2014-2015, a decline of 79,000 since 2013-14. Almost 90,000 RTI applications were pending decision at the start of the reporting year of 2014-15. Of the 2,030 public authorities registered with the CIC, only 75.27% submitted data on RTI for the year. This is much lower than 2012-2013, when of the 2,333 registered public authorities 79% submitted RTI returns.
The proportion of rejection of RTI applications has shot up by 1.2% in 2014-15. While only 7.20% of the RTI applications was rejected in 2013-14, this figure increased to 8.40% in 2014-15. “This is cause for worry and must be examined.On the face of it, this comparative figure appears to support the anecdotal experiences of many an RTI user that the public authorities under the government has begun rejecting more and more RTI applications under the NDA regime, Venkatesh Nayak, from CHRI who analysed the data said.
Data related to CIC is not encouraging either. The commisison received 35,396 appeals and complaints cases in 2014-15. It decided 20,181 cases during the year while 37,323 cases were pending before the CIC as on April 1, 2015.
CIC imposed penalties of over Rs 7 lakh on errant public information officers in 2014-15. This figure has come down by 61% since last year, when fines worth Rs 19.25 lakh were levied. However during 2014-15, the CIC recovered penalties better as compared to the previous year. It recovered Rs 11.31 lakh as compared to Rs 10.19 lakh which is about 10% higher.
Among the ministries and departments who have submitted information on RTI applications, the largest number have been filed with the finance ministry as it includes banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and tax authorities.The number of RTIs filed are about 1.4 lakh which has declined by 6%. The other public authorities that have fewer RTI applications as compared to last year are President's secretariat and ministry of external affairs.
Aug-Sept 2015: 95% drop in cases
The Times of India, Oct 16 2015
CIC sees 95% drop in cases in August-September 2015
Himanshi Dhawan The Central Information Commission (CIC) has registered a 94.61% drop in the number of cases with an average daily number plummeting from 223 cases in January-July to 12 cases in August-September 2015. Disposal of cases has also come down by 11% from an average of 99 cases a day (between Jan-July) to 88 cases between Aug-Sept according to analysis by Commonwealth Human Rights Iinitiative's Venkatesh Nayak.
The number of cases admitted between January to July were 178 and an equal number was disposed of. Between August-September a total of 567 cases were admitted by the commission while 4,066 were disposed of. As of October there are 35,407 cases pending.
Information commissioner Sharat Sabharwal's office admitted the least number of cases 52 during the August-September period while Chief Information Commissioner Vijai Sharma's office admitted more than double that number 106 cases.
2015: CIC returns 12% of pleas
The Times of India, Nov 07 2015
Himanshi Dhawan
CIC returns 12% of '15 pleas, activists wary
Almost 12% of the appeals and complaints filed with the Central Information Commission (CIC) this year were returned to the senders. The highest number of returned applications were in July , when over one-fifth (21.68%) of the appeals were sent back, a sharp spike from January's 10.55%.
Analysis by Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) revealed that of the 71,166 appeals filed between January and October 2015, 8,536 were returned. In July , 1,800 of the 8302 appeals received were returned. In comparison, around 759 of 7,194 applications (10.55%) filed in January were returned.
The CIC has, however, held that the appeals in question were “deficient“ or had missing papers, which forced the commission to return them. It also cited a Punjab & Haryana high court order that a photo identity card is necessary to file an RTI appeal.
Anjali Bhardwaj of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), in a letter to the CIC, pointed out that in 75% of the cases, the “deficiency memo“ was not accessible online. Gurgaonbased activist Aseem Takyar said around six of his ap peals were returned recently on the grounds that he didn't attach an identity proof.
Takyar said this was against Section 6(2) of the RTI Act, which held that an applicant is not required to give any reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him.
2015-16: applications increase 20%; 40% rejected
Indians filed an astonishing 9.76 lakh applications under the Right to Information Act in 2015-2016, an increase of over 20% as compared to the previous year's numbers. However, four out of every 10 RTI pleas were rejected on mysterious grounds, according to the central information commission's annual report made public.
The number of applications filed in 2014-2015 were 7.55 lakh, which rose by 22.67% or 2.21 lakh in 20152016. Unfortunately the number of RTI pleas rejected continue to be high as well. Public authorities rejected 6.62% of the they applications received. While this is lower than last year's figure of 8.39% applications rejected in 2014-2015, the number remains high.
According to an analysis by CHRI's Venkatesh Nayak, the highest proportion of RTI applications was rejected not under the permissible exemptions under the RTI Act such as national security, fiduciary relationship, Cabinet papers while a decision is still to be taken but under the mysterious category of “others“. At 43% rejections recorded under this category , more than four out of every 10 RTI applications rejected were for reasons other than those permitted by the RTI Act.
About 47% of RTI pleas rejected under various clauses in section eight of the RTI act (against national interest and others), about 1% were rejected under Section 9 (private copyright) and 7% of the RTI were rejected by the 26 security and intelligence organisations partially excluded under act except in cases of corruption and life or death.
In 2014-15, almost a quarter of the registered public authorities failed to submit data related to RTI applications they received. Compliance was considerably higher with 94% of the 1,903 public authorities submitting data in 2015-2016.
The CIC disposed of 28,188 appeal and complaints cases in 2015-16 while 25,960 cases were registered during the same period. Pendency of second appeals and complaints on April 1, 2016, was at 34,982 cases.
The Commission reported that the amount of fees and penalties reported by public authorities had increased by 12.31% in 2015-16.It had imposed penalties to the tune of Rs 10.52 lakh out of which Rs 9.41 lakh was paid up by the public information officers.
Penalties worth Rs. 1.25 lakh imposed in various cases have been stayed by various high courts.
The backlog
2014: All India
RTI backlog burden: Waiting period 60 yrs in MP, 17 in WB
Himanshi Dhawan The Times of India Oct 10 2014 New Delhi:
2 Lakh Pleas Pending Before 23 Commissions Across Country
If you were to file an RTI in Madhya Pradesh information commission your appeal would come up after 60 years while it would be a 17year wait in West Bengal. In Rajasthan the appeal would take over three years, while in Assam and Kerala the applicant would have to wait two years to be heard. Nearly six information commissions including the Central Information Commission have a waiting period of over a year.
Days before the tenth anniversary of the Right to Information (RTI) Act -that falls on October 13 -a study by RTI Assessment and Advocacy Group (RaaG) and Samya-Centre for Equity Studies in collaboration with NCPRI paints an alarming picture of Infor mation Commissions across the country caving in under the weight of pending cases.The collective backlog in 23 commissions is about 1.98 lakh as on December 31, 2013. The maximum number of appeals and complaints were pending in UP (48,442), Maharashtra (32,390) and the Central Information Commission (26,115).
“The massive backlog in disposal of appeals and complaints in the information commissions is effectively denying people their fundamental right to information-it is resulting in citizens having to wait for excessively long periods of time to have their appeals and complaints heard,“ the report `People's Monitoring of the RTI Regime in India 2011-2013' said.
2015 Dec: the state-wise pendency
Himanshi Dhawan, RTI appeal hearing may take 30 years in Assam. Nov 05 2016 : The Times of India
If you file a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in Assam today, you might have to wait 30 years for your appeal to be heard by the information commissioner (IC).
The “waiting period“ in West Bengal is over 11 years and seven in Kerala.
A new study of the working of information commissions in 16 states shows that the RTI Act's purpose of en suring greater transparency is being throttled by the sheer pendency of cases -1.87 lakh as on December 2015.
Though the Act empowers the ICs to impose penalties of up to Rs 25,000 on erring public information officers for violations, penalties have been imposed in only 1.3% of the cases in the 16 states, causing a potential loss of Rs 290 crore in fines defaulting public authorities would have paid. Despite an increase in the number of ICs in the Central Information Commission, pendency has increased from 13 months to 22 months.
A study of the performance of information commissioners is being carried out by the Research Assessment and Analysis Group and Satark Nagrik Sangathan.
The key findings don't bode well when it comes to implementing the RTI Act as matters have worsened since the last RTI study in 2014.
The waiting time in the Assam IC, which was two years eight months in 2014, has now shot up to 30 years. West Bengal has improved its pendency , cutting the waiting time down from 17 years 3 months to 11 years and 3 months. But Kerala fares badly , with the waiting time increasing to seven years four months from two years three months in 2014.
