RTI Workshop conducted by Subhash C Agarwal

5th September, 2011

The Legal Aid Society of Campus Law Centre organized a guest lecture by Subhash C. Agarwal, one of the stalwarts of the Right to Information movement, which was truly one of the most significant events of independent, democratic India. The speaker holds the Guinness Record for maximum number of letters written to various newspapers highlighting governmental and administrative apathy. The lecture was indeed a very enlightening one, adding tremendously to our knowledge on the topic.

To begin with Mr. Agarwal, acknowledged the initiative of Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to enact this legislation. He further added that RTI Act is indeed a unique piece of legislation as it was passed because of the skilled advocacy on part of the civil society, which pressed for this legislative enactment for a very long time under the deft stewardship of Arvind Kejriwal and other activists. He further informed the participants of the workshop that countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and others too were emulating the example set by India and enacting similar legislations. Right to information has received international recognition as well. Be it the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the European Charter of Human Rights, this right has been kept on a high pedestal. This highlighted the global sweep of change towards openness and transparency. States can no longer claim monopoly over the truth.

Stressing on the objectives of the RTI Act he stressed that the Act had tried to strike a balance between the interests of the information seekers as well as the information keepers. RTI Act is a very important tool to bridge the knowledge gap between the rulers and the ruled, the managers and the beneficiaries and between the producers/ distributors and the consumers. Inequality in knowledge is also responsible for social superiority and inferiority complexes reinforcing socio- economic divides. In the absence of free information, a distinct class of secret operators of power with a halo of unwarranted mystique and awe around them, emerges and behaves and operates as a superior race. RTI Act shall ensure access to information which is in the custody of public authorities. Mr. Agarwal opined that RTI Act had gone a long way to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority and it was very important weapon in the armory of citizens to combat the arbitrariness of public authorities and the executive. It ensures for every citizen the enforceable right to question, examine, audit, review and assess government acts and decisions and helps ensure that these are consistent with the principles of public interest, probity and justice. RTI has so far acted as a powerful  beacon illuminating the unlit corners of State activity and the public authorities. Mr. Agarwal also said that RTI is a piece of legislative handicraft which seeks to do away with the concept of Locus Standi. Under Section 6 (2) reasons for seeking information cannot be sought by the public authorities.

The speaker further stressed that the scope of information that can be sought under RTI Act has been kept very wide so as to bring within its ambit a large variety of documents etc. As per Section 2(f) ‘information’ means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force. He said that bringing file notings within the purview of the Act was a big achievement for the Right to Information movement.

He also said that the Act covers a wide spectrum of bodies which are termed ‘Public Authority’. They range from Central Government, State Government, Panchayati Raj institutions, local bodies and all other bodies, like NGOs which are established, constituted, owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government. Such an umbrella definition in a way ensures greater efficacy of the legislation. The Act basically conceptualizes that there ought to be disclosure of information as a matter of rule and non- disclosure is merely an exception. The erudite speaker also spoke about the deliberations which are underway to bring BCCI under the ambit of Public Authority and the feasibility of the proposal. He also mentioned the case of Sarabjit Ray v. DERC, wherein the Court held that a public utility company which has been privatized continues to fall within the ambit of ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act.

Mr. Agarwal also threw light on certain aspects of drafting petitions seeking information from the ‘Public Authorities’. He delved into the technicalities of drafting and said that the term ‘Why’ should generally not be inserted; rather the queries should be subtly drafted so as to ensure that all relevant information is extracted without explicitly asking ‘Why’.  He further illumined the participants about the procedure for seeking information. As per Section 5 of RTI Act, each Public Authority is supposed to appoint a public information officer, who shall within 30 days of receiving the request for information, provide information or reject the application.  Any aggrieved person can appeal against the decision of the PIO to the officer who is senior in rank within 30 days, and a second appeal is also provided before the Central or State Information Commission as the case maybe within 90 days.

When asked about the frivolous RTI applications that were been filed, Mr. Subhash C. Agarwal expressed concern about this trend which tends to jeopardize the efficacy of the Act.  He said that deliberations were underway to frame rules so as marginalize the chances of misuse. He informed the participants of the workshop that Administrative Reforms Commission on RTI Act 2005 had hence recommended:

1. That public information officers be given the power to refuse a request for information, if in his opinion, it is manifestly frivolous or vexatious;
2. Public information officers be given power to deny request if work involved in processing the request would substantially divert resources of a public body.

As per more recent deliberations, Mr. Subhash C. Agarwal  said that an upper limit can be placed on the number of queries that can be inserted in an application for disclosure of information. He said that the Act itself had intended to serve sublime objectives of protecting right to information which stems from the right to life (Article 21) and Right to freedom of thought and Expression (Article 19 (1) (a)) and it would be very unfair to term it as a complete failure. If proper checks are put in place RTI can go a long way in making India a democracy in the true sense where every person has a say in policy formulation.

On the concluding note one can comfortably say that true democracy can’t exist till the time the citizens (read ‘We the people’) have the right to participate effectively in the affairs of the polity. This right to participation has a crucial inter- linkage with the right to information. Information is a currency that every citizen requires to participate in the life and governance of every society. Information provokes thought and without a thought process there can be no articulate expression. Thus to make the right guaranteed to all citizens under Article 19 (1) (a) and Article 21 meaningful, it is important to ensure that freedom of information and access to reliable information exists. One sided information, dis- information, misinformation and non- information are the biggest threats to democracy and have the potential to subtly eat into democratic institutions. A citizen’s right to know the true, unadulterated facts about the country’s administration of the country is thus one of the pillars of a democratic state.  

We hope that in the years to come RTI Act shall continue to be the beacon which illumines the dark corners of governmental structure.

The legal Aid Society is extremely grateful to Mr. Agarwal for having come and delivering a very informative and insightful lecture on the RTI Act.

Harshita Vatsayan