Breif Explain Right To Informtion Act
What is Right to Information Act - Right to Information Act Simplified - RTI Act 2005.
Part II of the Act sets out 23 exemptions where the right of access to information is either not allowed or is qualified. In the main, these relate to issues such as national security, law enforcement, commercial interests and data protection. Information is also exempt under the. Apr 05, 2013 Ratna Ala, a blind man from Rangpar, Gujarat, used RTI to ensure a good approach road to his village, weed out bogus voters and ensure good governance. Ratna Ala is a 32 year old man from Rangpar village in the Rajkot district of Gujarat. Similarly the Right to Information Act also provides for a prescribed fee that will be levied on the citizen making an application for information. Freedom of Information Act, which expressly provides for the District courts in the US to exercise the power of judicial review in case of non-response from the authorities established under the act or by way of appeal from such authority.
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By Kartik Kachhawah, R.N Patel School of Law and JusticeEditor’s Note: The Right to Information Act, 2005 is considered to be one of the leading welfare oriented laws enacted after independence. The act provides for a modus operandi to acquire information from public authorities regarding the functioning of government.
In this paper, the author has highlighted the various aspects of this act and its importance in the current political scenario.Human civilization has always been inclined towards attainment of power. Power can be defined in various forms; depending upon the context it suits, for say; for an entrepreneur capital is power, for a politician influence is power and so on. If we talk about politics it’s again a struggle for power. Today we live in neo-modern age or some thinkers might even contend that we live in an Information age where knowledge and information is considered as the most potent intangible assets which can even buy money.
In India we follow a democratic republic form of government which represents will of citizens. Under this form of government it is very important that people should be aware of political agendas, functions of various governmental bodies, welfare schemes, policies and Et cetera. Meaningful substantive democracy ought to be founded on the notion of an informed public competent to participate thoughtfully and actively in the governance of the country.Democratic government stands on two pillars namely; translucency and reasonable accountability as it is the fundamental goal of a democratic government to put peoples will into action and be answerable to people for the same. Thus, an easy and reliable access to information for citizens is a paramount requisite of a democratic republic and the Right to Information Act, 2005 aims to suffice the same. This paper is fragmented in three parts. The first part basically deals with preliminary questions pertaining to the act such as; what is RTI Act? What is its Constitutional importance?
What is covered under RTI Act? Who are the adjudicating bodiesetc. The second part of this paper deals with more complicated issues relating Right to Information i.e. Coverage of RTI and issues pertaining to it. The third part of this paper explains the importance of RTI is current political setup. GenesisThe Right of Information is well mentioned in Indian constitution.
Although there is no specific right to information or even right to freedom of the press in Indian Constitution, the corresponding has been read into the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Chapter three of Indian Constitution. These include the Right to Equal Protection of the Laws and the Right to Equality before the Law, the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression and the Right to Life and Personal Liberty. These are backed by the Right to Constitutional Remedies in Article 32, that is, the Right to approach the Supreme Court, in case of infringement of any of these rights. However the concept of RTI came before the Constitution itself as the disclosure of information held by public authorities was primarily governed by Official Secrets Act, 1923 which placed major restrictions on access of information.
The restrictions placed on the access of information were relieved by the enactment of RTI Act, 2015. In addition to this the right to seek information from public authorities became codified. The RTI Act is an efficient tool to promote transparency in governmental functions. The following part shall explain the purpose behind the enactment of RTI, its constitutional significance and the provisions under the said statue. IntroductionRight to Information Act, 2005 has been enacted as welfare legislation.
For the better understanding of current statue it is essential to understand the history of RTI.“Government ought to be all outside and no inside. Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety”.-Woodrow WilsonUnder the Official Secret Act, 1923, the entire governmental process has been covered in secrecy. The people who voted for the formation of democratically elected governments and contributed to the huge costs of financing public activities, had no legal rights to know as to: what process has been followed in designing the policies, how the programmes have been implemented, who are the authorities associated with the decision making process and execution of the schemes and under what reason the promises made for delivery of essential services to public has not been met. Covert politics is the best matrix for corruption and other such activities to proliferate. Under the effect of Official Secret Act, 1923 the governments became totally immune from its liability to answer regarding its actions as there was no ombudsmen to safe guard public interest.
As the result, in the early decades of Indian Independence politicians leeched the common citizen by imposing heavy tax. Such tax though collected by government in abundance, no explanation was provided regarding high depreciation of national resources. This led to immense poverty, corruption, political instability and what not. Aggrieved by such situation various NGO’s and other Philanthropic organizations pressurized government to establish an effective way to increase the access of information on public authorities and that’s how RTI, 2005 got enacted. If we look in the history of RTI act, it can be noted that it took 9 years to finalize and enact RTI Act, 2005. It all began with the formulation of an initial draft of a Right to Information (RTI) law by National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI). The draft was then sent to Government in 1996.
Later, in 2002 the “Freedom of Information” bill was introduced in national parliament. The bill was then amended to remove basic lacunas and on 12 th October, 2005 the RTI Act was brought into force.Globally talking, the first RTI legislation was enacted in 1776 in Sweden.
Brief Explain Right To Information Activities
The UN general assembly passed a resolution in 1948 declaring freedom of information as fundamental human right thus recognizing people’s right to have access to official information u/a 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Fifty six countries in the world have already enacted RTI laws. Therefore, it is submitted that the Enactment of RTI Act, 2005 is one of the greatest steps towards clean and responsible government.Right to information is not concerned with or any information that we might get out of news, blogs or other related media but it is concerned with information regarding Governmental actions. Constitutional Importance of Right to InformationIn L.K. State of Rajasthan and Ors Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court observed:“Under Article 19 (a) of the Constitution there exists the right of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is based on the foundation of the freedom of right to know”In many such cases the arguments regarding RTI were highlighted by High Court of various States as well as by Supreme Court of India.
Before the enactment of RTI Act, 2005, judges made laws protected the Right of Information. Freedom of expression signifies the freedom of media to present truth before public and for the same reason the media, press or any such agency must be provided with proper access to true information. The landmark case in freedom of the press in India was Bennett Coleman & Co. Union of India in which the petitioners, a publishing house bringing out one of the leading dailies challenged the government’s newsprint policy which put restrictions on acquisition, sale and consumption of newsprint. This was challenged as restricting the Petitioner’s rights to freedom of speech and expression. The court struck down the newsprint control order saying that it directly affected the Petitioners right to freely publish and circulate their paper. In that, it violated their right to freedom of speech and expression.
The judges also remarked, “ It is indisputable that by freedom of the press meant the right of all citizens to speak, publish and express their views” and “Freedom of speech and expression includes within its compass the right of all citizens to read and be informed.”In Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Pvt. India, SC interpreted Article 19 (1) stating:“The basic purpose of freedom of speech and expression is that all members should be able to form their beliefs and communicate them freely to others. In sum, the fundamental principle involved here is the people’s right to know”The verdict in State of U.P v.
Raj Narain firmly established the principle of administrative transparency. It was well observed by learned KK Mathews J.:“In a government of responsibility like ours, where all the agents of the public must be responsible for their conduct, there can be but few secrets. The people of this country have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way, by their public functionaries. They are entitled to know the particulars of every public transaction in all its bearing. The right to know which is derived from the concept of freedom of speech, though not absolute, is a factor which should make one wary, when secrecy is claimed for transactions which can, at any rate, have no repercussion on public security. To cover with veil of secrecy, the common routine business is not in the interest of the public. Such secrecy can seldom be legitimately desired.
It is generally desired for the purpose of parties and politics or personal self-interest or bureaucratic routine. The responsibility of officials to explain or to justify their acts is the chief safeguard against oppression and corruption”This was prior the enactment of RTI Act, 2005 where various provisions of constitution were interpreted to give an effect to right of information as it wasn’t codified. Thus, the enactment of RTI Act not only strengthened the scope of better governance but it also reinforced constitutional provision regarding Rights to Express. Provisions of ActRTI Act, 2005 contains VI Chapters, 31 Sections and 2 Schedules. Chapter 1 is preliminary.