Right of the people to directly approach govt shouldn’t be lost

Information Commissioner Deepak Sandhu has been the government’s spokesperson and is one of the most senior commissioners in the Central Information Commission. Sandhu spoke to Chetan Chauhan on impact of recent Supreme Court order and the new Right To Information rules.

Updated on: Oct 14, 2012, 23:49:21 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan

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Information Commissioner Deepak Sandhu has been the government’s spokesperson and is one of the most senior commissioners in the Central Information Commission. Sandhu spoke to HT on impact of recent Supreme Court order and the new Right To Information rules. Excerpts of an interview:

The SC had issued a detailed order on functioning of the information commissions, which would have wide ranging implications. How do you view the court’s order?
As far as the Supreme Court order is concerned, the government has already filed a review petition. I would not like to comment on any aspect of the court ruling. But, I would like to say that the court’s order should not adversely impact the simplicity of the Right To Information Act. A person can seek information from the government on a piece of plain paper. The right of the people to directly approach government authorities or file second appeal easily should not be lost. An RTI applicant has a right to appear in the second appeal before the commission. This right shouldn’t be taken away or the information commission would become like other courts where a common man fears to go. We should guard this right of the people.

The government has brought out new RTI rules and many fear that the rules are an attempt to curb people’s right to information. How do you analyse the new rules?
The biggest concern is regarding the limit of 500 words in an RTI application. I want to say that the rules say that an application cannot be rejected on the ground of its word length. I feel that the rule will help the Public Information Officers to provide information in a much better way. It will also help the applications to focus on what he wants to ask. Some people file lengthy RTI applications and it results in burden on government resources. I think the rules will help the government to use its resources to provide information in more efficient manner.

There was also concern raised that the new rules says an RTI appellant will have to appear in person and cannot authorise anyone else to appear on his behalf. Any clarifications.
There is no ambiguity on whether the appellant can come himself or can authorise anyone else. The rules says that there would be no change in the existing system for the applicants.

How do you visualise performance of the CIC?
After three years in the CIC, I believe we have done really well. People can come and see how hearings are taking place. We have 18,000 pending cases. Three years ago, the average time to hear the case was one year. We have brought it down to seven to eight months and by December we would reduce it to six months. To improve voluntary disclosure under the RTI Act, I have given two months to public authorities to comply with section 4 of the Act. I will be holding a meeting in December with public authorities to check the status. Anybody can come and give suggestions on how to improve section 4 compliance.

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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