RTI should be curtailed if it violates people’s privacy: PM

PM Manmohan Singh on Friday warned against the use of the Right to Information Act — one of the most popular people-oriented steps that the UPA has taken so far — to ridicule public officials and infringe on people’s privacy. Chetan Chauhan reports. Caught in the act?

Updated on: Oct 13, 2012, 01:57:23 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday warned against the use of the Right to Information Act — one of the most popular people-oriented steps that the UPA has taken so far — to ridicule public officials and infringe on people’s privacy.

Although Singh credited the RTI Act for greater “probity, transparency and accountability” in governance while celebrating seven years of the act, he said a citizen’s right to know should be curtailed if it violates someone’s privacy. The comment, however, invited sharp reactions from RTI activists.

The UPA 1 enacted the act in 2005, incorporating over 100 recommendations by the National Advisory Council (NAC) — led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi — and described it as the government’s biggest achievement during the 2009 general elections.

Subhash Chandra Aggarwal, whose RTI applications caused much embarrassment to the government, said, "The same PM described the law as wonderful in UPA 1 and is now giving ideas to smother it."

The PM’s remarks followed the Supreme Court and the Central Information Commission’s criticism of frivolous RTI applications.

He said the issue of a separate legislation on privacy was being considered by an expert group under justice AP Shah.

The activists say the government's perception changed as the RTI Act turned into a bane for the judiciary, bureaucracy and the political class with uneasy questions being asked.

“We are dismayed and concerned at some of the statements made by the Prime Minister… (as it) will pass a signal to those who want to dilute and weaken the act,” said a statement issued by prominent RTI activists led by NAC member Aruna Roy.

Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner, described Singh's comment as an attempt by the government to kill the people-friendly RTI law. “

"Earlier, Supreme Court order on appointing retired judges as head of information commissions and now the PM's statement is a double whammy for the RTI and our democracy.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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