Another Modi made disaster? Why is Govt secretive on RTI Bill?

The Right to Information (RTI) Act, hailed as the best such law enacted globally, faces amendments brought in by the Modi Government. But the Lok Sabha bulletin is silent on the ‘purport’ of the Bill. The Government has gone back on its own pre-legislative consultation policy under which all draft legislations are to be placed in public domain for 30 days. And the concerned ministry’s website, contrary to practice, has not made available a summary of comments before the Bill was sent to the cabinet for approval.

It is no secret that the Modi Government, which came to power swearing about transparency in Government, has systematically weakened the implementation of the RTI Act. The Centre and BJP rules states have allowed RTI applications to mount, have done little to fill up vacancies of Information Commissioners and have sat over applications. They now seem determined to bring about sweeping changes like downgrading the rank of the Information Commissioners, who now enjoy the status of Supreme Court judges, to that of a Secretary to the Government.

Activists are naturally up in arms. As many as 18 Bills, they point out, have been notified in the Lok Sabha Bulletin for introduction, consideration and passage. But it is only the RTI Bill which stands out because it provides no information at all. Officials too, they say, have refused to part with information about the nature of changes.

A petition to save the RTI Act has generated 16,000 signatures.

Former Chief Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi tweeted, “ #SaveRTI WE have one of the best RTI Acts in the world. NOBODY should bring any changes in it. WE need better implementation. Focus on that.”

RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj tweeted, “Non disclosure of proposed amendments to the RTI Act is a violation of the Pre Legislative Consultation Policy of the Central Govt. and undermines the basic principles of participatory democracy!”

Some of the changes that the Government appears to be pushing will make it more difficult for applicants to access information and make it easier for the Government to get away with non-disclosure.

• The proposed rules are said to state that each complaint must be accompanied with a copy of the RTI application submitted to the public information officer (PIO).The proposed rules make attaching a copy of the RTI application a mandatory requirement for filing a complaint.

But the RTI Act provides for filing a complaint in cases where a PIO has not been appointed or where a PIO has refused to accept an RTI application, among others. In such matters, the complainant would not have a copy of the RTI application submitted to the PIO.

• The proposed rules also suggest that a complaint be filed within 90 days from the date the cause of complaint arose, failing which a request for condoning the delay is required.

But since violations of the RTI Act, such as being provided false information, may only be proved much after the information has been furnished, the Act has not prescribed a time-frame for filing complaints. The limitation on time for filing complaints, the only way to highlight cases of non-compliance, appears unreasonable.

• There appears to be a proposal to allow for the withdrawal of appeals based on a written communication by the appellant and closure of proceedings upon death of the appellant.

RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj explains, “ there is no provision in the RTI Act which permits, or even leaves open, the possibility of appellants withdrawing their appeals and therefore, again the rules appear to go beyond the law. More importantly, given the Indian reality where RTI applicants continue to be threatened and brow beaten, occasionally physically beaten up, and even killed, such provisions will provide a perverse incentive to vested interests to silence the information seeker through coercion or physical harm.