RTI Lawyer Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Zirakpur Derabassi

Last Updated on April 9, 2020 by Legalseva.net

RTI Law in India

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and the people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison[1]

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History

Sweden is the very first country to provide the citizens with the ‘right to know’ since 1766 when it enacted Freedom of Information Law, 1766.But India did not manage to recognise the right to information until 1990s when Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan started a grassroot campaign for Right to Information and demanding information pertaining to development works in Rajasthan. In 1996, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), a civil society group was founded aiming to get the legislation on RTI enacted. Shourie Committee was set up in 1997 to prepare draft legislation on RTI but was criticized for not adopting the high enough standards of disclosure. The Committee reworked the draft into Freedom of Information Act, 2002 which also faced major backlash from the civil societies for being inclusive. With efforts from NCPRI, the act finally saw light of the day on 15^th June 2005.

How would you define ‘Right to Information’?

Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 (UDHR) states that : “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” At domestic level, the right to information has been held to be intrinsic part of freedom of free speech and expressionunder Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution.[2]

What is the scope and applicability of the Act?

The main objective of information right is to prevent corruption, bring transparency and accountability in the system and to abolish the secrecy law regime of the State.

The Act is applicable to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir which has also been amended after the removal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

2(a) of the Act provides comprehensive list of the public bodies which falls under the ambit of this law. It includes:
the constitutional bodies, including the executive, judiciary and legislature
any institution or body established by an act, order or notification of Parliament or State Legislature

anyorganisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by the funds provided by the government is covered.

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Now, what is open to disclosure to the public?

The simple answer to this lies in Section 2(f) of the RTI law which defines ‘Information’ as ‘any material in any form including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advises, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic media and information relating to any private body which can be assessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force’.

Further expanding the periphery of this right,under section 2(j), the right to information is inclusive of the right to:

inspect works, documents,

But, there are some exemption clauses, that is, the conditions when the information would be denied which are provided under S.8 of The RTI Act, 2005:

information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;
information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court; Exemption from disclosure of information.

information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature;

information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information;
information received in confidence from foreign Government;

information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes;
information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders;

cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers;
information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information;
Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with sub-section (1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests.

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PROCEDURE

Under the act, Public Information Officer (PIO) is appointed to all the complying departments, whether public or private. Any informed citizen of India may submit a request to the PIO for information in any format electronic or hard copy. Then, the responsibility of PIO is to ensure whether or not the information is to be sought from the appropriate department or section. It is also PIOs duty to transfer the concerned portion of the request to other PIO if it pertains to that another public authority within a time span not extending 5 days. The person making the request for the information need not to provide reasons for the same. The Act also specifies the time periods for complying with the request which are as follows:

compliance is expected within 30 days, if the request has been made to the PIO.
compliance is expected within 35 days, if the request has been made to the APIO.

If the PIO transfers the request to some other department, the time allowed is 35 days.

Any information pertaining to Human Rights violation by Security agencies is too be provided within 45 days.
Any cases concerning the life or liberty, the PIO has to comply within 48 hours

If the information is not provided within the specified time period, then it would be considered refused which is a ground for appeal as justice delayed is justice denied.

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CONCLUSION

“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.”

-Bruce Coville

The above statement holds very true in the recent times especially with the latest amendment in RTI Act, 2019. This amendment is considered draconian by various RTI activists as it is aimed at butchering the very objective of the Act by controlling the salaries and the tenure of CIC and other authorities established under RTI. The right to now is the fundamental right which gives rise to plethora of other rights and violating or curbing the flow of information is against those basic principles of justice and true spirits of democracy.

For case specific advice, one may contact best/top/expert RTI Lawyers in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Kharar Zirakpur Derabassi

This post is written by Ayushi Tyagi.