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What is Right
to Information What is RTI? RTI stands for Right to Information. Right to Information is a
part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19
(1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As early as
in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs State of UP, that
people cannot speak or express themselves unless they know. Therefore, right to
information is embedded in article 19. In the same case, Supreme Court further
said that India is a democracy. People are the masters. Therefore, the masters
have a right to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning.
Further, every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays tax (in the
form of sales tax, excise duty etc) when he buys a piece of soap from the
market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know how their money was being
spent. These three principles were laid down by the Supreme Court while saying
that RTI is a part of our fundamental rights. If RTI is a fundamental right, then why do we need
an Act to give us this right? This is because if you went to any Government
Department and told the officer there, “RTI is my fundamental right, and that I
am the master of this country. Therefore, please show me all your files”, he
would not do that. In all probability, he would throw you out of his room.
Therefore, we need a machinery or a process through which we can exercise this
fundamental right. Right to Information Act 2005, which became effective on 13th
October 2005, provides that machinery. Therefore, Right to Information Act does
not give us any new right. It simply lays down the process on how to apply for
information, where to apply, how much fees etc. When did RTI Act come into
force? The Central Right to Information Act came into force
on the 12th October, 2005. However, before that 9 state Governments had passed
state Acts. These were J & K, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam & Goa. What rights are available under RTI Act
2005? Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every
citizen to q Ask any questions from the
Government or seek any information q Take copies of any
government documents q Inspect any government documents. q Inspect any Government works q Take samples of materials of
any Government work. Who is covered
under RTI? The Central RTI Act extends
to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. All bodies, which
are constituted under the Constitution or under any law or under any Government
notification or all bodies, including NGOs, which are owned, controlled or
substantially financed by the Government are covered. What is “substantially
financed”? This is neither defined
under RTI Act nor under any other Act. So, this issue will evolve with time,
maybe through some court orders etc. Are Private bodies covered under the RTI Act? All private bodies, which
are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are directly
covered. Others are indirectly covered. That is, if a government department can
access information from any private body under any other Act, the same can be
accessed by the citizen under the RTI Act through that government department. Isn’t Official Secrets Act 1923 an obstacle to the implementation of
RTI Act? No. Sec 22 of the RTI Act
2005 clearly says that RTI Act would over ride all existing Acts including
Officials Secrets Act. Can the PIO
refuse to give me information? A PIO can refuse information on 11 subjects that are listed in section
8 of the RTI Act. These include information received in confidence from foreign
governments, information prejudicial to security, strategic, scientific or
economic interests of the country, breach of privilege of legislatures, etc. There is a list of 18 agencies given in second schedule of the Act to
which RTI Act does not apply. However, they also have to give information if it
relates to matters pertaining to allegations of corruption or human rights
violations. Does the Act provide for
partial disclosure? Yes. Under Section 10 of the RTI Act, access may be provided to that
part of the record which does not contain information which is exempt from
disclosure under this Act. Can access be denied to file
notings? No. File notings are an
integral part of the government file and are subject to disclosure under the
Act. This has been clarified by the Central Information Commission in one of
its orders on 31st Jan 2006.
How to use Right to Information How do I locate the full Act? The full Act in Hindi and English is available on the website of
Department of Personnel and Training www.persmin.nic.in.
It is also available on this website. Who will give me information? One or more existing officers in every Government Department have been
designated as Public Information Officers (PIO). These PIOs act like nodal
officers. You have to file your applications with them. They are responsible
for collecting information sought by you from various wings of that Department
and providing that information to you. In addition, several officers have been
appointed as Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs). Their job is only
to accept applications from the public and forward it to the right PIO.
Where do I submit application?
You
can do that with the PIO or with APIO. In the case of all Central Government
Departments, 629 post offices have been designated as APIOs. This means that
you can go to any of these post offices and submit your fee and application at
the RTI counter in these post offices. They will issue you a receipt and
acknowledgement and it is the responsibility of that post office to deliver it
to the right PIO. The list of these post offices is given at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rtimanual16a.html
Is there any fee? How do I deposit that?
Yes,
there is an application fee. For Central Government Departments, it is Rs 10.
However, different states have prescribed different fee. For details see rules
framed by the states on this website. For getting information, you have to pay
Rs 2 per page of information provided for Central Government Departments. It is
different for different states. Similarly, there is a fee for inspection of
documents. There is no fee for first hour of inspection, but after that, you have to pay Rs.
5 for every subsequent hour or fraction thereof. This is according to Central
Rules. For each state, see respective state rules. You can deposit fee
wither in cash or through a DD or bankers cheque or postal order drawn in favor
of that public authority. In some states, you can buy court fee stamps and
affix it on your application. This would be treated as if you have deposited
the fee. You can then deposit your application either by post or by hand.
What should I do if the PIO or the concerned Department does not accept
my application?
You
can send it by post. You should also make a formal complaint to the respective
Information Commission under section 18. The Information Commissioner has the
power to impose a penalty of Rs 25000 on the concerned officer who refused to
accept your application.
Is there an application form for seeking information?
For Central Government
Departments, there is no form. You should apply on a plain sheet of paper like
an ordinary application. However, many states and some ministries and
departments have prescribed formats. You should apply in these formats. Please
read rules of respective states to know
How can I
apply for information? Draft your application on a normal sheet of paper
and submit it by post or in person to the Public Information Officer (PIO). [Remember to keep a copy of the application
for your personal reference] How can I
deposit my application fee? Every state has a different mode of payment for
application fee. Generally, you can deposit your application fee
via:
Please see respective
state rules for complete details. Can I submit
my application only with the PIO? No, in case the PIO is not available you can submit
your application with the Assistant PIO or any other officer designated to
accept the RTI applications. Where can I
locate the concerned PIO? A list of PIOs/APIOs and Appellate Authorities for
all Central and State departments/Ministries is available online at www.rti.gov.in What if I can
not locate my PIO or APIO? In case you have problems locating your PIO/APIO you
can address your RTI application to the PIO C/o Head of Department and send it
to the concerned public authority with the requisite application fee. The Head
of Department will have to forward your application to the concerned PIO. Do I have to
personally go to deposit my application? Depending on your state rules for mode of payment
you can deposit your application for information from the concerned departments
of your state government via post by attaching a DD, Money Order, Postal Order
or affixing Court fee Stamp For all Central government departments the
Department of Posts has designated 629 postal offices at the national level.
The designated officers in these post offices work as Assistant PIOs and
collect the application to forward to the concerned PIO. A list is available
on http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rticontents.html Is there a
time limit to receiving information? Yes. If you file your application with the PIO, you
must receive information within 30 days. In case you have filed your application with
Assistant PIO then information has to be made available within 35 days. In case the matter to which the information pertains
affects the life and liberty of an individual, information has to be made
available in 48 hours. Do I have to
give reasons why I want a particular information? Absolutely not! You are not required to give any
reasons or additional information other than your contact details (i.e., Name,
Address, and Phone No.). Sec 6(2) clearly says that no information other than
contact details of the applicant shall be asked. Can the PIO
refuse to accept my RTI application? No. The PIO can not refuse to accept your
application for information under any circumstances. Even if the information
does not pertain to his/her department/jurisdiction, s/he has to accept it. If
the application does not pertain to that PIO, he would have to transfer it to
the right PIO within 5 days under sec 6(2). Why is it that RTI works when no other law has worked
There have been many good laws in this country but none of those laws
worked. Why do you think this law would work?
This law is already working. This is because for the first time in the history of independent India, there is a law which casts a direct accountability on the officer for non-performance. If concerned officer does not provide information in time, a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay can be imposed by the Information Commissioner. If the information provided is false, a penalty of a maximum of Rs 25000 can be imposed. A penalty can also be imposed for providing incomplete or for rejecting your application for malafide reasons. This fine is deducted from the officer’s personal salary.
Has any penalty been imposed
so far?
Yes, some officers have been penalized by the Central as well as State Information Commissioners.
Does the Applicant get the amount fined to the PIO?
No. The amount fined is deposited in the government treasury. However, under sec 19, the applicant can seek compensation.
What should I do if I do not receive
satisfactory information What can I do if I do not
receive information? If you do not receive information or are
dissatisfied with the information received, you can file an appeal with the
first appellate authority under section 19 (1) of the right to Information Act. Who is a First
Appellate authority? Every public authority must designate a First
Appellate Authority. This officer designated is the officer senior in rank to
your PIO. Is there a
form for the first appeal? No there is no form for filing a first appeal (but
some state governments have prescribed a form). Draft your appeal application
on a blank sheet of paper addressed to the First Appellate Authority. Remember
to attach a copy of your original application and a copy of the reply in
whatever form (if received) from the PIO. Do I have to
pay a fee for the first appeal? No. You are not required to pay any fee for the
first appeal. However, some state governments have prescribed a fee. In how many
days can I file my first appeal? You can file your first appeal within 30 days of
receipt of information or within 60 days of filing RTI application (if no
information received). What if I do
not receive the information after the first appeal process? If you do not receive information even after the
first appeal then you can take the matter forward to the second appeal stage. What is a
second appeal? A second appeal is the last option under the RTI Act
to get the information requested. You can file second appeal with the
Information Commission. For appeals against Central Government Departments, you
have Central Information Commission (CIC). For every state Government, there is
a State Information Commission. Is there a
form for the second appeal? No there is no form for filing a second appeal (but
some state governments have prescribed a form for second appeal too). Draft
your appeal application on a normal sheet of paper addressed to the Central or
State Information Commission. Carefully read the appeal rules before drafting
your second appeal. Your second appeal application can be rejected if it does
not comply with the appeal rules. Do I have to
pay a fee for the second appeal? No. You are not required to pay any fee for the
second appeal. However, some states have prescribed a fee for that. In how many
days can I file my second appeal? You can file your second appeal within 90 days of
disposal of first appeal or within 90 days of the date, by when first appeal
was to be decided. How does this law help me in
getting my work done How
does this law work so effectively for pending works i.e. why is it that the
government officials end up doing your work which they were not doing earlier? Let us take the case of Nannu. He was not being
given his ration card. But when he applied under RTI, he was given a
card within a week. What did Nannu ask? He asked the following
questions:
In normal circumstances, such an application would be thrown in a dustbin. But this law says that the Government has to reply in 30 days. If they don’t do that, their salary could be deducted. Now, it is not easy to answer these questions.
There is no progress made. But the government officials cannot write in these many words that they have not acted for so many months. Else that would be admission of guilt on paper.
If the government provides names and designations of the officials, their responsibility gets fixed. Any officer is most scared of fixing of responsibility against him in this manner. So, the moment one files such an application, his/her pending work is done. What should I do after getting
information? There cannot be one answer for that. It depends on why
you asked for that information and what type of information is it. Often a lot
of things start falling in place just by asking for information. For instance,
you would get your passport or a ration card just by your asking for the status
of your application. In many cases, roads got repaired as soon as the money
spent on its repairs in the last few repairs was asked. So, seeking information
and questioning the government is an important step, which in itself is
complete in many cases. But suppose you expose some corruption or wrongdoing
using RTI. Then, you can complain to vigilance agencies, CBI or even file an
FIR. But it is seen that the Government does not take any action against the
guilty even after repeated complaints. Though one can keep up the pressure on
vigilance agencies by seeking to know the status of complaints under RTI,
however, the wrongdoings can also be exposed through media. However, experience
has not been very encouraging at getting guilty punished. But one thing is
certain. Seeking information like this and exposing wrongdoings does improve
the future. The officials get a clear message that the people of that area have
become alert and any wrongdoings in future would not remain hidden as they were
in the past. So, their risks of getting caught increase. Won’t I be victimized if I used RTI Have people been victimized who used RTI and exposed
corruption? Yes, there have been some instances where people
were physically harmed when they sought information which exposed large scale corruption.
But this does not mean that ever applicant faces such a threat. Filing
application to seek status of your grievance or for knowing other similar
routine matters does not invite any retaliation. It is only when information is
likely to expose bureaucratic-contractor nexus or any kind of mafia that there
could be a possibility of retaliation. Then why should I use RTI? The entire system has become so rotten that if all
of us individually and together do not do our bit, it will never improve. If we
don’t do it, who will? Therefore, we have to act. But we should do that with a
strategy and minimize risks. And with experience, there are some safeguards and
strategies available. What are these strategies? Please go ahead and file RTI application for any
issue in the first instance. Normally, anyone would not attack you immediately.
They would first try to cajole you or win you over. So, the moment you file any
inconvenient application, someone would approach you very politely to request
you to withdraw that application. You should gauge the seriousness or the
potential of the person approaching you. If you consider it to be serious
enough, ask 15 of your friends to immediately apply to the same public
authority asking for same information. It would be better if these 15 friends
were from different part of India. Now, it would be most difficult for anyone
to target all of your 15 friends all across the country. And if they threaten
anyone from amongst the 15, let more people file similar applications. Your
friends from other parts of India can file their applications by post. Try and
give it wide media publicity. This will ensure that you will get the requisite
information, and you would have sufficiently minimized risks. Bureaucracy’s fears Can’t people blackmail government servants by
obtaining information? Let us ask ourselves – what does RTI do? It just
brings truth in public domain. It does not create any information. It just
removes curtains and brings truth in public domain. Is that bad? When can it be
misused? Only if an officer has done something wrong and if that information
comes out in public. Is it bad that wrongdoings within the Government should
become public and be exposed rather than keeping it under wraps. Yes, once such
information is obtained by someone, he could go and blackmail that officer. But
why do we wish to protect wrong officers. If any officer is blackmailed, he/she
has options available under Indian Penal Code to go register an FIR against a
blackmailer. Let that officer do that.
However, we can even avoid the possibility of any individual officer
from being blackmailed by any individual complainant by putting all
information, sought by any applicant, on the website. An applicant is able to
blackmail an officer only when that applicant is the only person who obtained
that information and threatens to make that public. But if all information
sought by him were to be put on website, the possibility of blackmail would be
substantially reduced. Won’t Government get flooded with RTI applications
and won’t it jam government machinery? These fears are hypothetical. There are more than 65
countries in the world, which have RTI laws. There are nine states in India,
who had RTI laws, before this law was passed by the Parliament. None of these
Governments were flooded with applications. Such fear emanates from an
assumption that the people do not have anything to do and are totally free.
Filing an RTI application and pursuing it takes time, energies and resources.
Unless a person really wants any information, he/she does not file it. Let us consider some statistics. In Delhi, 14000
applications have been filed in 120 departments in more than 60 months. This
means less than 2 applications per Department per month. Can we say that Delhi
Government got flooded with RTI applications? In sharp contrast, US Government
received 3.2 million applications under their RTI Act during 2003-04. This is
despite the fact that unlike India, most of the Government information is
already available on the net and there should be much less need for the people
to file applications. But US Government is not contemplating scrapping the RTI
Ac. On the contrary they are setting aside more and more resources to implement
it. During the same year, they spent $ 32 million to implement it. Won’t it require huge amount of resources to
implement RTI Act? Any amount of resources required to implement RTI
Act would be well spent. Most countries like the US have realized it and are
already spending huge resources to make their governments transparent. Firstly,
all the cost spent on RTI gets more than recovered the same year by the amounts
of money that the Government saves due to reduction in corruption and
malpractices. For instance, there is strong evidence to show how leakages in
drought relief program in Rajasthan and Public Distribution System in Delhi
substantially reduced due to extensive use of RTI. Secondly, RTI is very essential for democracy. It is
a part of our fundamental right. For people to participate in governance, the
pre-requisite is that they first know what is going on. So, just the way we
treat all expenses made on the running of our Parliament as essential, we have
to treat all expenses made in the implementation of RTI as essential. But often people file applications to settle
personal scores etc? As written above, RTI simply brings truth in public
domain. It does not create information. Any attempt at hiding truth or putting
a cover over it is not in the best interests of society. Rather than serving
any useful purpose, any attempt at promoting secrecy would only increase the
scope for corruption and wrongdoing. Therefore, our entire efforts should be to
make governance completely transparent. However, if anyone blackmails someone
subsequently, there are ample provisions under law to address that. Secondly,
there are sufficient safeguards under sec 8 of RTI Act. It states that any
information, which relates to private affairs of any individual and has no
public interest would not be disclosed. Therefore, the existing laws have
sufficient provisions available to address genuine concerns of the people. How to avoid people from filing frivolous
applications? THERE IS NO FRIVOLOUS APPLICATION. What is
frivolous? My pending water connection could be the most critical issue for me,
but it could be treated as frivolous by a bureaucrat. Some vested interests
within the bureaucracy have raised this bogey of frivolous applications. Right
now, RTI Act does not permit any application to be rejected on the ground that
it was frivolous. But some section of bureaucracy want the PIO to be empowered
to reject any application if he feels that it was frivolous. If that happens,
every PIO will declare every other application to be frivolous and reject it.
It would mean a death knell to RTI. File notings should not be made public as that would prevent honest officers from rendering honest advice? This is wrong. On the contrary, every officer would
now know that whatever he writes on the file would be subject to public
scrutiny. This would force him to write things which are in best public
interest. Some honest bureaucrats have admitted in private that RTI has helped
them immensely in warding off political and other undue influences. Now, the
officers simply say that if they did the wrong thing, they might get exposed if
someone asked for that information. Therefore, officers have started insisting
that the seniors gave directions in writing. The Government is learnt to be
contemplating removing file notings from the purview of RTI Act. For the above
reasons, it is absolutely essential that file notings should be allowed to be
covered under RTI Act. Civil servant has to make decisions under many pressures and the public will not understand this? As discussed above, on the contrary, possibility of
exposures to illegitimate pressures would reduce. Government records are not in proper shape. How
could RTI be implemented? RTI would force the system to start maintaining
records properly now. Else the officials would face a penalty under the Act Applications seeking voluminous information should
be rejected? If I seek for some information, which runs into a
lakh of pages, I would do that only if I need it because I will have to pay Rs
2 lakhs for that.This is an automatic deterrent. If application were rejected
only on this account, the applicant could break his application and file 1000
applications seeking 100 pages through each application, which would not
benefit anyone. Therefore, applications should not be rejected only on this
pretext. People should be allowed to seek information only
about themselves. They should not be allowed to ask questions about other
spheres of governance, totally unrelated to the. Sec 6(2) of RTI Act clearly says an applicant cannot be questioned why he/she were asking for any information. In any case, RTI flows from the fact that people pay taxes, This money belongs to them and therefore, they have a right to know how their money were being spent and how they were being governed. So, people have a right to know everything about every sphere of governance. They may or may not be directly related to the matter. So, even a person living in Delhi can ask for any information from say, Tamil Nadu. |