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The Right to Information Act completes four years of enactment on October 13, 2009, and the Indian government is planning to introduce amendments to make it easier for non-resident Indians to seek information, reduce the number of organisations exempt from the Act, and make it mandatory for government departments to voluntarily disclose certain types of information
On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah stated that the Union government was planning important amendments to usher in further transparency and make the legislation more effective. Habibullah clarified that there would be no attempt to increase the fee or exempt file notings through the proposed amendments. “There is a lot of fear about this and that is why I met the prime minister. I have seen the proposed amendments to the Act, and there is nothing of this sort. There is absolutely no move to exempt file notings.” One of the main suggestions of the CIC, which has been included in the list of proposed amendments, is that the Act should be made more non-resident-Indian (NRI)-friendly. “NRIs, being Indian nationals, can apply for information under the RTI Act, but the means of access for them are very unsatisfactory. Where do they pay the fee of Rs 10, and how? When they approach Indian embassies, they are seldom helped,” Habibullah said. The proposed amendments will ensure that NRIs are able to pay through embassies or by electronic transfer. The government is also planning to reduce the number of organizations, mentioned in the second schedule of the RTI Act, which are exempt from disclosure norms. At present, 22 security and intelligence organisations do not have the general obligation to disclose information unless it is a matter of human rights violations or corruption. These include RAW, IB, DRDO, SPG, CRPF and CISF. Sources said organisations like the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) could be taken off the schedule through an amendment. Another proposed amendment is to bring clarity on the issue of benches in the CIC. The department of personnel and training (DoPT) triggered a controversy when it said there was nothing in the RTI Act that enabled information commissioners to hold separate hearings. The DoPT also said the CIC had no powers to constitute separate benches and that all information commissioners should hear cases together. Although the issue was subsequently resolved, it highlighted a huge gap in the Act. Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, writing in a Mumbai daily, said that most citizens were aware of RTI as a device by which they could demand information from public authorities, for a fee of Rs 10. But since the citizen owns the government, should there not be a simpler way for him to access information that is relevant to him? “This need has been captured in Section 4 of the RTI Act. Section 4 (1) (b) actually lists 17 such categories of information which have to declare suo moto by the public authorities. It can bring about the discipline of delivering a governance of quality, since it prescribes, ‘Say what you do’. Once the government states this, citizens can spot any deviations. This would also make it difficult for government officers to act arbitrarily,” Gandhi said. Gandhi also stated that after meeting his first target of ensuring disposal of cases within 60 days, he would now start focusing on getting better Section 4 compliance from various authorities. “I use every opportunity to order the public authorities to make a complete disclosure, apart from issuing specific directions for matters which are of great interest to citizens… Increasing the suo moto declaration under Section 4 can have a great impact on bringing in transparency and reducing corruption.” Source: The Pioneer, October 12, 2009
Press Trust of India, October 11, 2009
IANS, October 11, 2009, October 2009
http://www.mid-day.com, October 2009
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