Tweaking the RTI Act through Amendment.

In the year 2005 the Right to Information Act was enacted as well as enforced. This enactment enabled the general public to demand by right from public authorities  the information available with them.If the information saught is held by or is under the control of the public authority and such information as saught is otherwise not exempted from it being furnished, the Act makes the Public Information Officer responsible for supplying such information within 30  days from the date of filing application for the purpose. If the applicant is not provided with the information saught or the information furnished is not to his satisfaction the matter may be raised by way of appeal before the first appellate authority. There is provision of second appeal also under the Act. The Central Information Commissioner(CIC), depending upon the nature of information saught, acts as the Second Appellate Authority.
The term of office and conditions of service of the Central Information Commissioners(IC) and Chief Information Commissioner(CIC) was hitherto protected under the Act in such a way that CIC and Information Commissioners could not be removed from his office before the expiry of a fixed term of 5 years from the date he enters upon his office or attaining the age of 65 years except by the order of the President on ground of misbehaviour or incapacity proved through an inquiry by the Supreme Court acting upon presidential reference made to the apex court.
The above provisions mentioned in shortest details are aimed at highlighting as to how the Act seeks to ensure
* people's empowerment by way of arming them with information that the system is reluctant to share with them. This was a bold step forward by making our democracy more participative and system more transparent. Many wrongdoings of the executives including serious malfeasance, matters of financial bunglings came to be known publicly by invoking provisions of RTI only.
* control over the tendency of the public authority to conceal their non- performance. Officers now happen to desist from inaction or wrongdoings in fear of being found so through an RTI application.
Save with certain examples of misuse of the RTI a large number of general public have stood to benefit from the functioning of this system since the day this enactment came into force. In other words we can assert that benefits have dwarfed the instances of misuse of the Act. It will be appropriate to hold that RTI is a powerful weapon in the hands of weaks who have no resource to at least know the fate of their representation biting dust due to official negligence or apathy.
If this RTI is so helpful for the helpless and resourceless, it is because of the autonomy of the Information Commission embedded in the Act. As indicated in brief above the purpose behind provisions pertaining to the fixity of tenure and removal from office of the CIC and ICs was meant to provide the environment under which the latter could function without fear or favour by the government in power.
Simply because the Central Information Commission is a mere statutory body unlike the Constitutional status of the Election Commission the autonomy of CIC deserves a revisit is poor on logic as well as facts. The duty, functions and responsibilities of both the Commissions are different. They cannot be compared or rather measured by the same yardstick. Whereas the role of the Election Commission is mostly seasonal that of the Information Commission is all the year round. If the responsibility of conducting free and fair elections rests with the Election Commission that of keeping the information within free reach of each and every Indian citizen is the special responsibility of the Central Information Commission. Its role has not been appreciated unbiasedly by those who stand to favour Amendment. In effect it amounts to diminish its domain of influence through curtailment in autonomy. It has kept the CIC to function under the environment of uncertainty. If the terms and conditions of service are left at the mercy of the central government how can one expect the CIC to discharge its duty towards citizens in a society where furnishing information by the officer to common man was until recently infra dig. Here people have been kept information starved. This is for the purpose of keeping the key to power pocketed by the select few skillfully. Will not the CIC functioning under the changed environment desist from passing such orders not to the liking of the government? It will reel under the constant fear of being removed. Will not this lead to add one more example of weakening institutions? Views expressed here may not be in keeping with the establismentarian spirit but we must appreciate that information has the power not only to shape the destiny of individuals but future of our democracy also
R.R.Prabhakar.
31.07.2019.

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