Right to Information (RTI): India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
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.
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.”
RTI Act does not apply to judgments
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.
RTI and govt aided NGOs
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.
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.
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.
2013-14: Number of RTIs filed
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.
Expenditure by government departments
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.
2014: The backlog
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
