1.ghuman Sohail 2017 Right To Information Act 2005 in India A Decadal Experience
1.ghuman Sohail 2017 Right To Information Act 2005 in India A Decadal Experience
1.ghuman Sohail 2017 Right To Information Act 2005 in India A Decadal Experience
B. S. Ghuman1
Mohammad Sohail2
Abstract
Right to Information (RTI) Act emerged as a powerful instrument for taming
corruption in the functioning of public authorities by promoting transparency
and accountability. The Act has completed ten years but the challenges hinder-
ing the successful implementation of the Act are still looming large. The Act is
slowly moving away from its goal owing to many factors, such as lack of aware-
ness, improper maintenance of records, poor compliance to public disclosure of
information mentioned under Section 4 of the Act, inconvenient fee depositing
mechanism, lack of sustained training mechanism for employees, misuse of the
Act, pendency of appeals before Information Commissions and lack of legisla-
tive measures for protection of whistleblowers. For making the Act a success,
it is essential to conduct massive awareness campaigns for citizens, to maintain
proper official records for facilitating provision of information under the Act,
ensuring suo motu disclosure of information mentioned under Section 4 of the
Act, use of information and communication technology in the implementation of
the Act, making available convenient fee depositing options, conducting training
programmes for officials involved in the implementation of the Act, and, finally,
enacting a strong whistleblowers’ protection Act.
Keywords
Right to Information, transparency, accountability, corruption, rights-based
approach
1
Professor, Department of Public Administration and Former Dean Faculty of Arts, Panjab University,
Chandigarh, Panjab, India.
2
Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Panjab, India.
Corresponding author:
B. S. Ghuman, Professor, Department of Public Administration, Arts Block III, First Floor, Panjab
University, Sector 14, Chandigarh 160014, India.
E-mail: [email protected]
Ghuman and Sohail 229
to Life and Personal Liberty in Article 21 of the Constitution. The Act empowers
the citizens with a right to seek information kept by public authorities, and they
barring few exceptions have to provide the information.
The states in India took lead in enacting RTI Acts before the Centre could
do it. Before RTI Act, 2005, states like Tamil Nadu, Goa, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi had
already enacted similar Acts; however, these Acts were found to be weak (Singh,
2011; Banisar, 2006).
The article is organised into eight sections. The first section deals with objec-
tives and methodology of the study. The second section contains theoretical
framework and the philosophy of RTI Act. Various features of RTI Act, 2005, are
presented in the third section of the article. Performance of RTI Act in India is
examined in the fourth section. An attempt is made in the fifth section to check the
compliance of public authorities as well as Information Commissions to various
obligations of the Act. The sixth section of the article discusses some important
institutions which have played pivotal role in the implementation of the Act.
Stumbling blocks and challenges are described in the seventh section. The eighth
section provides policy prescriptions for improving the performance of RTI Act,
2005, in India.
Objectives
The RTI, 2005, completed ten years in 2015. The objective of the article is to
assess the decadal performance of the Act, audit the compliance of public authori-
ties and Information Commissions to various obligations prescribed in the Act,
identify stumbling blocks and mitigate the same by suggesting policy prescrip-
tions based upon national and international experiences.
While assessing the performance of the Act, the article focuses mainly on three
aspects, namely: (i) growth parameters of RTI; (ii) the role of RTI in promo-
tion of transparency, accountability and taming corruption in the functioning of
public authorities; and (iii) the compliance by public authorities and Information
Commissions to various obligations envisaged in the Act.
Figure 1. Flowchart of the Process Involved in Getting Information under the Act
Source: Government of India (2006).
Year 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–2010 2010–2011 2011–2012 2012–2013 2013–2014 2014–2015
Total number 938 1,412 1,597 1,770 1,847 2,149 2,314 2,333 2,276 2,030
of public
authorities
listed/registered
Number 837 1,168 1,382 1,528 1,427 1,452 1,593 1,864 1,651 1,528
of public (89.23) (82.72) (86.54) (86.33) (77.26) (67.5) (68.8) (79.9) (72.54) (75.27)
authorities who
submitted annual
return (%)
Total number 24,436 183,424 287,187 362,520 626,748 437,744 705,976 886,681 962,630 845,032
of requests
received
Total number 3,387 15,388 18,966 23,954 34,057 21,413 52,313 62,231 60,127 63,351
of rejected (13.9) (9) (7.20) (7.26) (6.43) (5.1) (8.3) (7.7) (7.21) (8.39)
requests (%)
Total number 2 7 20 9 35 432 28 502 8 4
of cases where
disciplinary
action was taken
Total amount of 508,749 3,071,167 4,356,782 5,539,162 8,548,568 8,086,216 10,059,199 12,030,964 11,406,379 10,507,823
fees, additional
charges and
penalty levied
(in `)
Source: Data compiled from Annual Reports of the years from 2007–2008 to 2014–2015 of CIC.
238 Indian Journal of Public Administration 63(2)
authorities in a big way. The examples of decisions like asking Union Public
Service Commission to show marks to civil services aspirants and directing Delhi
Government to inform the complainants about the timeframe to redress their
grievances (Simi et al., 2010) show the impact of decisions on the working of
Public authorities. However, it is found that in many instances Public authorities
have failed to implement the decision of Information Commission. Recent case
of political parties denying the order of CIC to be considered as Public authori-
ties has been widely debated (Burman, 2013; Sastry, 2015; The Hindu, 2013b).
The case is pending before the Supreme Court. There are other instances such as
Sumitra Devi vs Women and Child Development Department, GNCTD, Delhi3;
Shri Anil Kumar Chopra vs Central Public Information Officer (CPIO)4 and
case of Shri Bhupinder Kumar5 where Public authorities have not acceded to the
decision of CIC. Notwithstanding the Information Commissions have penal-
ised the errant officials for not complying with the orders, the full compliance to
decisions of the Commissions is still lacking. It is relevant to mention here
that public authorities are bound to implement the decisions of Information
Commissions under Section 19(7) of the Act.
Section 4(2), (3), (4) relates to dissemination of information under Section 4(1)
in a cost effective manner through various means of communication including
internet. Dissemination of information through website is one of the most cost
effective ways. But it has been found that as on September 2012, out of a total of
2,336 public authorities, 779 did not have website addresses. Moreover, 779 did
not have even web pages with updated RTI manuals (Shreyaskar, 2013).
The public authorities as mentioned in Section 25(2) of the Act are responsi-
ble for sending annual returns relating to RTI to the Information Commissions.
Table 1 shows that not all public authorities comply with this provision. Moreover,
the percentage of registered public authorities complying with this provision has
experienced fluctuating trend.
Disposal
Percentage Average Annual
Number of Number of (Disposal/ Disposal by Individual
Year Registration Disposal Receipt) × 100 ICs/CIC
2009–2010 22,800 19,482 85.44 2,165
2010–2011 28,875 24,071 83.36 2,675
2011–2012 33,922 23,112 68.13 3,852
2012–2013 28,801 24,550 85.24 2,889
2013–2014 20,438 20,147 98.58 2,747, taking in to
account the
incumbency of the
commissioners who
were in position at
different periods.
Source: Central Information Commission (2014).
of September 2015 and around 218 in October 2015. It does not indicate that
less number of people are approaching CIC but more appeals are being turned
down by the CIC. Moreover, the CIC has not maintained the record of number of
appeals turned down or rejected and the reason for rejecting the appeals. The inci-
dents also question the transparency in the working of CIC (The Hindu, 2015b).
Another criticism of CIC came in the wake of a report published in The Economic
Times on 19 November 2015 suggesting that CIC has not opened around ten thou-
sands envelopes containing appeals since August 2015. This is another method
used by CIC for not letting the pendency of appeals to escalate (The Economic
Times, 2015, November 19).
Section 19(9) provides that the Commission should communicate its decision
to complainant and public authority including any right to appeal. It is evident
from the various case studies (Saxena, 2009) that Commission does communicate
its decisions to the stakeholders.
Section 19(10) of the Act envisages that Information Commissions while
deciding cases should stick to such procedures as may be prescribed under the Act.
In practice, this connotes that Information Commissions and/or the government
nodal agencies for administering the Act need to develop rules stating procedure
of filing and processing of an appeal (CHRI, 2006). The central government has
come up with the CIC (Appeal Procedure) Rules 2005 detailing the procedure of
filing and processing of an appeal. However, the provisions were found to be very
basic in nature and explained little to the information seeker about Commission’s
approach in processing the cases. In January 2006, the CIC made a request to the
nodal agency for implementing rules, namely, the Department of Personnel and
Training to make an amendment in the rules for empowering the Chief Information
Commissioner to ‘exercise all such powers and do all such acts and things for
setting up the procedures for hearing the appeals, the complaints received and
for internal functioning of the Commission’ (CHRI, 2006). The Department of
Personnel and Training have come up on the 31 July 2012, with RTI Rules, 2012,
242 Indian Journal of Public Administration 63(2)
Role of Media
The role of media in the implementation of RTI Act is also considered positive as
media from time to time has highlighted issues concerning the implementation of
RTI Act (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009; The Hindu, 2013c). Persons from media
have acted as users of RTI Act and as well as watchdogs for monitoring and evalu-
ating the impact assessment of the Act (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Media
have used RTI for unearthing instances of corruption. According to an estimate,
4–5 per cent of cases in news media unveiling corruption are based on informa-
tion retrieved through RTI applications and this percentage is expected to increase
(Rao, 2013).
Role of Judiciary
Role of judiciary in the implementation of RTI is exceptionally outstanding.
Judiciary’s intervention in the form of court orders has been effective in imple-
menting the Act in spirit and decisions of CIC and State Information Commissions.
From rejecting government’s claim of privilege on the Blue Book, containing the
security instructions for the Prime Minister in Indira Gandhi’s Case, and on
correspondence between the Chief Justice and Law Minister on the appointment
and transfer of judges, to make public the details about the criminal antecedents,
income and assets by the candidate contesting elections,7 Judiciary has made a
remarkable contribution in the implementation of the Act. Decision in cases such
as Romesh Thappar v. State of Madras (striking down the ban imposed by the
state government on circulation of the petitioner’s journal), Hamdard Dawakhana
v. Union of India (declared right to information as a part of Article 19(1)(a) of the
Constitution of India), State of Punjab v. Sodhi Sukhdev Singh (allowing the state
to withhold documents sought under RTI)8 and cases listed in the Compendium of
Supreme Court/High Court Decisions on RTI Act, 2005 brought out by CIC every
year speaks volumes about the role of judiciary in the implementation of the Act.
Lack of awareness among citizens remains one of the major stumbling blocks
in the successful implementation of the Act (Abbas, 2015; Centre for Good
Governance, 2009; Government of India, 2006; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009;
Roberts, 2010; RTI Assessment and Advocacy Group and Samya-Centre for
Equity Studies, 2014; RaaG & NCPRI, 2009; Society for Participatory Research
in Asia, 2007; Centre for Good Governance, 2009; PricewaterhouseCoopers,
2009; Simi et al., 2010; Trapnell & Lemieux, 2014). Further, it is not only that
there exists a lack of information among citizens but also the skewed pattern of
awareness among citizens varies across gender, location (rural–urban) and caste
groups. Males, urbanites and general category people are more aware about the
Act. A study carried out in five states, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra
Pradesh, Odisha and Assam brings out that only 12 per cent of women against 26
per cent of men were aware about the Act. Only 13 per cent rural people were
aware about the Act whereas in urban areas 33 per cent people knew the Act.
The percentage of people who were aware about the Act belonging to General
Category was 27 per cent and in case of OBC/ST/ST the awareness was as low as
14 per cent (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Similar findings have been repeated
by another survey (RaaG & NCPRI, 2009). Lack of information as a major con-
straint was confirmed by other studies as well (RTI Assessment and Advocacy
Group and Samya-Centre for Equity Studies, 2014; RaaG & NCPRI, 2009;
Simi et al., 2010; Roberts, 2010; Trapnell & Lemieux, 2014). The lack of aware-
ness is also accompanied by poor quality of awareness of citizens about most of
the provisions under the Act (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Filing of RTI has
also experienced rural–urban divide. According to one estimate, only 14 per cent
of the RTI applicants filed till 2012–2013 came from rural areas. The number of
women filing RTI also found to be miserably low (The Tribune, 2016).
The Act under Section 26(2) makes it obligatory on the part of appropriate
government to publish user guides containing information relating to procedure
of filing RTI application. But the experience shows that the authorities have failed
to comply with this provision. The non-availability of user guides constrains the
citizens from reaping the benefits of the Act (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
Adopting a standardised format for filing an application, however, is not
necessary under the Act but helps in delivering the information in a better way
(PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Some states like Maharashtra and Odisha have
developed standardised format for filing an application but the recent report of the
Committee to evolve model format for RTI replies have not supported the idea of
having a standardised format (Government of India, 2013; 2014).
Section 6(1) of the Act states that a person can make a request in writing or
through electronic means. The trend shows that filing application through elec-
tronic mode which is cost-effective and saves time is discouraged in practice.
Filing application directly at the PIO office dominates the practice followed by
via post. Filing application through email constitutes a meagre portion of the total
applications (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). The government has introduced
online mechanism for filling RTI but it has covered only Department of Personnel
and Training (DoPT; The Hindu, 2013a). Provision of online filing of RTI needs
to be ensured in all the Public authorities. The Supreme Court on 3 November
Ghuman and Sohail 245
2014, while responding to a plea has asked the central and state governments to
take necessary decisions for setting up of a mechanism to provide information
under the RTI Act through ‘electronic’ means (The Times of India, 2014).
Fee payment mechanism is also inconvenient as citizens sometimes have to go
outside the concerned state to pay the fee. In a case of Odisha fee was deposited
only through treasury challans and bankers cheques. The easy option of deposit-
ing fee through postal orders was not available in states like Maharashtra, Odisha
and Andhra Pradesh (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009). Inconvenient fee deposit-
ing mechanisms have also led to cost escalation. Depositing fee through demand
draft is normally followed in practice. The fee is `10 but usually `30–35 are
paid for making demand draft thus increasing the cost of filling an application.
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission has also taken notice of this
cost escalating practice (Government of India, 2006). Multiple visits paid by citi-
zens in lieu of filing an application also make the process costly. Another issue is
that applicants are forced to deposit the required fee at the head office of public
authorities. The recent incidents of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) accept-
ing the fee only at its head office supports the argument. The State Information
Commission took cognizance of the matter and directed the NMC to accept the
fee at its zonal offices as well (The Times of India, 2015b, 2015c).
As mentioned earlier, mostly the information seekers file RTI application
at PIO office. The findings show that even then the display boards containing
relevant information are not displayed at all the PIO offices and if displayed they
carry insufficient information (CHRI, 2009; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
Citizens also face challenges like lack of assistance provided in filing the applica-
tion as envisaged in the Act under Section 5(3). Non-friendly and hostile attitude of
the PIOs towards the citizens remains a major challenge (PricewaterhouseCoopers,
2009). Quality of information provided is found to be unsatisfactory as most of
the citizens were not satisfied with the quality of information on account of being
incomplete and irrelevant (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009).
Nevertheless, the Act tends to bring a perceptible shift from the culture of
secrecy to norms of openness and transparency in the working of public authori-
ties. However, a radical mental and attitudinal change in the working of public
authorities is thus a necessity for making the Act a game changer. The review of
literature suggests that unfortunately neither the staff is trained to work in tandem
with the provision of the Act, nor any significant attempts have been made to bring
those attitudinal changes (Government of India, 2006; PricewaterhouseCoopers,
2009).
On the other hand, issues of frivolous complaints filed show the misuse of the
Act by the citizens. The filing of frivolous applications and appeals not only devi-
ates the resources of the public authorities but is also against the basic purpose of
the Act. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission thereby recommended
‘The PIO may refuse a request for information if the request is manifestly friv-
olous or vexatious. Provided that such a refusal shall be communicated within
fifteen days of receipt of application, with the prior approval of the appellate
authority. Provided further that all such refusals shall stand transferred to CIC/
SIC, as the case may be and the CIC/SIC shall dispose the case as if it is an
246 Indian Journal of Public Administration 63(2)
appeal under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act’ (Government of India, 2006, p. 48).
The recommendation has been partially accepted by the government. But another
challenge relating to this recommendation remains that it is hard to decide the fri-
volity of an application/appeal and public authorities may misuse it (Singh, 2006).
Huge backlog of appeals pending with the State Commissions, non-availability
of basic infrastructure and lack of strong monitoring and evaluation mechanism
have played havoc with the implementation of the Act (Roberts, 2010; Chaudhury,
2011; The Times of India, 2010).
Appointment of bureaucrats as information commissioners has also taken
a toll over the expected outcomes of the Act as they were found to be lenient
towards PIOs (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009; Roberts, 2010). Seeking informa-
tion under RTI has not been always smooth. Many people have paid heavy price,
even loss of lives, for seeking information under RTI Act. Commonwealth Human
Rights Initiative (CHRI) has found out that since the implementation of the Act
till December 2013, around 251 people in India were attacked, murdered, physi-
cally or mentally harassed or had their property damaged because of the nature of
information they sought under RTI. The data include thirty-two alleged murders
and two cases of suicides which had direct connection with RTI applications filed
(The Times of India, 2013). Another estimate has suggested that the number of
RTI activists killed is to the tune of forty-five (The Tribune, 2015). The absence
of a strong legislation to protect RTI activists can hamper and discourage the use
of RTI in making instances of corruption public. The Whistleblowers Protection
Act, 2011, which aims to provide protection to whistleblowers got President’s
assent in May 2014 but never came into force due to pending amendments.
The recent move of the government in the form of introducing Whistleblowers
Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, will have a strong bearing on the implemen-
tation of the RTI Act. The Bill has been criticised for lessening the scope of infor-
mation to be disclosed under the Act by whistleblowers as whistleblowers—either
public servants, non-profit organizations or individuals—will not be allowed to
reveal any documents classified under the OSA of 1923, even if the purpose is to
disclose acts of corruption, misuse of power or criminal activities. This is in addi-
tion to the clause of any information that could ‘prejudicially affect the interest of
the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations
with foreign State’. The proposed amendments allow whistleblowers to disclose
some kinds of information only if it has been obtained through a RTI query9 (The
Hindu, 2015a).
Policy Prescriptions
Awareness among citizens holds the key to making RTI a success. The massive
awareness campaigns by the government in collaboration with civil society and
media are essential for improving awareness of citizens relating to various provi-
sions of the Act. Advertisements in major national and regional newspapers and
TV channels can help in a big way in making people aware of the benefits of the
Act. Conducting street plays in remote areas and organising workshops for
Ghuman and Sohail 247
citizens on RTI Act would definitely improve the awareness level of citizens.
Besides improving the awareness, people need to be educated about not to misuse
the Act or file frivolous applications under the RTI Act. This move will not only
lessen the burden on public authorities but also make the use of Act more
impactful.
With a view to promptly supplying quality information, the process of digitali-
sation of official records is mandatory for the successful implementation of the
Act and quality of information largely depends on it. The compliance of Section 4
of the Act should be regularly monitored. Needless to mention that if the records
are well maintained and easily accessible, relevant, precise and intelligent infor-
mation can be provided to information seeker in an expeditious manner. The PIOs
and public authorities need to be more vigilant and careful in this regard. Use
of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in managing the records
deserves special mention. Use of ICT will make the record keeping exercise more
efficient. Provision of additional funds and basic infrastructure will harness the
capacity of public authorities in records management.
Change in mindset and attitude of officials involved in implementation of the
Act holds the key to foster transparency and openness in the working of the public
authorities. Capacity building of officials through sustained training efforts is
necessary for bringing desirable changes in the mindset of the officials. Capacity
buildings programmes also need to impart knowledge of various provisions of the
Act to officials as knowledge of officials regarding various provisions of the Act
is found insufficient.
The process of seeking information under RTI needs to be made more citizens-
friendly. Ensuring availability of user guides can help citizens a long way to know
about the process of seeking information under the Act. When a citizen visits PIO
office for filing an RTI application, placement of display boards containing details
of PIO and other relevant details such as procedure to file an appeal will facilitate
the citizens in seeking information. Creation of Citizen Service Centres to provide
assistance in filing an application will significantly aid the citizens in reaping the
benefits under the Act. Making available more options for fee deposit preferably
like payment through credit/debit cards will simplify the fee deposit mechanism
and citizens will not have to shed more money from their pockets.
Compliance to various provisions of the Act like active disclosure under
Section 4, adoption of management information system and sending of annual
returns under Section 25(2) by public authorities play a pivotal role in success of
the Act and need to be implemented expeditiously.
Many people have sacrificed their lives for unearthing the cases of corruption.
The government is yet to implement Whistleblower Protection Law. A strong law
is needed to protect the whistleblowers who are utilising the tool of RTI for high-
lighting issues of corruption.
An effective monitoring mechanism is a prerequisite for ensuring successful
implementation of the Act. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission rec-
ommended that Information Commissions should be entrusted with this respon-
sibility. The recommendation has been accepted by the government. Information
Commissions should play a proactive role through regular monitoring for ensur-
ing the compliance of the Act by the public authorities.
248 Indian Journal of Public Administration 63(2)
The institutions of civil society and media have positively participated in the
formulation of the Act. Their role in the implementation needs to be strength-
ened by appointing persons of eminence and integrity as information commis-
sioners from civil society organisations and media. This move will encourage
these institutions to be more proactive towards the implementation of the Act.
Moreover, the move will make the composition of the information commissions
more broad-based.
Notes
1. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://www.rti.india.gov.in/cic_decisions/CIC_DS_
A_2013_001589_T_151420.pdf
2. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/FAAD_31102013_01.pdf
3. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/FAAD_18062014_01.pdf
4. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Notifications/RTIRules2012.pdf
5. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://judicialreforms.org/judicial-accountability/558-
right-to-information-and-judiciary-right-to-information-and-the-judiciary-by-
prashant-bhushan.html
6. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/
57390/13/13_chapter% 206.pdf
7. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://scroll.in/article/727173/if-amendments-to-whistle
blowers-act-are-passed-there-may-be-no-one-left-to-protect
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