Successful RTI brings transparency

After five years of the watershed Right To Information Act, which allowed common citizens to question a government body, the new Chief Information Commissioner AN Tiwari talks about the act's journey so far and its future.

Updated on: Oct 17, 2010, 22:51:58 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan

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After five years of the watershed Right To Information Act, which allowed common citizens to question a government body, the new Chief Information Commissioner AN Tiwari talks about the act's journey so far and its future. Excerpts:

What do you think about RTI's journey so far?
The RTI has been a unique experience; because, for the first time, citizens got a right to question public authorities. We as the highest appellate authority had the task to interpret the law. The task, we did best to our abilities. I will be happy to say that it has been one of the most successful laws in India.

There have been complaints of misuse of the RTI. Do you think it is a serious problem?
No law in the world can prevent misuse. Same is the problem with RTI, as the law does not define misuse. Therefore, technically, there is no misuse. The law says whatever question is asked has to be replied in yes or not.
It has lead to frivolous and vexatious RTIs. I will give you an example. A person, whose services were terminated, filed 400 RTI applications consisting of 5,000 questions.
When answers to all questions were given, he asked his friend to file a similar RTI. We, in the CIC, can only reprimand the application but the laws say that the information has to be provided.
There is a school of thought that says there is no category as frivolous and vexatious RTI applications.

What is the solution?
Under the present law, I plead guilty and will say there is no solution. Those who file such applications are a strong group, which use all measures to harass public authorities and also oppose any changes.

Do you suggest that the law should be changed? Have your views been sought?
Change in law is the prerogative of the legislative, but I haven't been asked yet.

What are your priorities as the CIC?
The RTI is much about transparency. So, the individual government department should look at voluntary declaration. Each department should have a positive list, where information should be provided without an RTI and a negative list, where information can be sought by using RTI.
This can bring a big change in transparency. I am already talking to a small group of nine public authorities to adopt the new transparency module. For that, the authorities need more efficient information handling system and trained personnel.

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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