- The Right to Information (RTI) Act when first introduced in 2005 was not only hailed as a milestone in strengthening democracy by giving citizens a tool to enforce accountability, particularly of public expenditure but also providing much-needed wherewithal to question the authorities who were found to be flouting the accepted societal norms on ethical disposition with impunity. As it is, the country is infamous for allowing corruption to take deep roots much to the chagrin of the concerned and honest citizens.
PC: Shailesh Gandhi
- Withholding of information, selective sharing of data, persistently denying rightful dissemination of evidence, and sheer apathy for the general good of the public have been the bane surrounding the government as well as public offices for a long time. Against this backdrop, the introduction of RTI was considered as a boon resting on the hope to enhance the quality of a democratic form of governance as well as exercising the right to franchise. Therefore, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution by placing the people’s right to information squarely within the ambit of fundamental rights, or Article 19(1) (a) was welcomed with great hope.
- Since the enactment of the act 16 years back, sadly, RTI’s potential has consistently been diluted by insincerity in its implementation. To further buttress the claim, the latest iteration of citizens’ group Satark Nagrik Sangathan’s annual publication on the state of RTI implementation presents a bleak picture. For the uninitiated, the RTI is overseen by information commissions, both of Government of India’s as well as states’. Unfortunately, political parties who are always found to be in the forefront promising to usher in transparency, corruption-free administration, honest execution of public works, and people-friendly government servants to attend to the needy citizens are making every effort to thwart the very purpose of RTI’s potential from fully realizing.
PC: Sns_india
- Cutting across party affiliations, the dilution of RTI appears to be complete by delaying the appointments of both chief information commissioners and information commissioners to relevant bodies. The resultant outcome is witnessing a steady build-up of outstanding cases hugely extending the timeline to dispose of them off. Mind you, if this situation persists, it will all but kill RTI even while it remains on the statute books. Keeping such a scenario in mind, the SC in a February 2019 judgment had warned against this possibility. Moreover, out of the 29 commissions studied in the abovementioned report, three were found to be completely defunct.
- Out of the three states, one did not appoint ahead for a full year, and another for two years, respectively. There is a backlog of 2.55 lakh cases as of June 30. Make no mistake, the Indian democracy definitely deserves better than the sad scenario being played out with stalling attempts by the governments in power. A veritable tool that empowers citizens cannot be allowed to be undermined in this fashion. It’s time to correct this anomaly immediately. Need of the hour for all political parties is to walk the talk by consolidating and bolstering the RTI Act. Otherwise, the citizens would feel betrayed yet again by hollow promises on eradication of corruption.
