Right to Information Act
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This article is about the Indian federal law. For freedom of information in other countries, see Freedom of information legislation.
| The Right to Information Act, 2005 | |
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| An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. | |
| Citation | Act No. 22 of 2005 |
| Territorial extent | Whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir |
| Enacted by | Parliament of India |
| Date enacted | 15-06-2005 |
| Date assented to | 15-06-2005 |
| Date commenced | 12-10-2005 (120th day of its enactment on 15th June 2005) |
The Act has increased transparency and greater accountability in the functioning of the government and hence played a significant role in exposing and reducing corruption to some extent. It is claimed to promote a "citizen-centric approach to development" and to increase the efficiency of public welfare schemes run by the government.[2]
Contents
Background
Historical Context
The earliest reference to right to information is in 1776, from Sweden, where a convention granting right to information to all its citizens was passed.[3] After the United Nations was formed, the U.N. passed a resolution in 1946 recognising right to information as a fundamental right. In 1960, UNESCO adopted a Declaration of Freedom of Information,[4] and Sweden became the first country in the world to enact a provision for access to government information. It took India another 45 years to legislate this right. At least 56 countries in the world have enacted their own right to information in their statutes.Supreme Court judgements
The Supreme Court for the first time gave a ruling on Three Judges Cases that disclosure of information with respect to functioning of the government must be a rule rather than an exception.[3]In Mr. Khulwal v. Jaipur Municipal Corporation case, the Supreme Court gave directives that right to information comes under Article 19 of Indian Constitution.
Right to Information movement
In early 1990s Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana (MKSS) began a movement to bring transparency to village financial accounts. Initially, MKSS lobbied government to obtain information such as master rolls (employment and payment records) and bills and vouchers relating to purchase and transportation of materials. This information was then crosschecked at Jan Sunwais (public hearings) against actual testimonies of workers. The public hearings were incredibly successful in drawing attention to corruption and exposing leakages in the system.[5]Success of MKSS became a source of inspiration for activists in other parts of India and led to a broader discourse on the right to information in India. In 1993, a first draft RTI law was proposed by the Consumer Education and Research Council, Ahmedabad, Gujarat (CERC). In 1996, the Press Council of India headed by Justice P B Sawant presented a draft model law on the right to information to the Government of India. The draft model law was later updated and renamed the PCI-NIRD Freedom of Information Bill 1997. MKSS's advocacy gave rise to the National Campaign on People's Right to Information (NCPRI), which was formed to advocate for the right to information at the national level. In 1997 efforts to legislate for the right to information, at both the State and National level, quickened. A working group chaired by H D Shourie (the Shourie Committee) was set up by the Central Government and given the mandate to prepare draft legislation on freedom of information. The Shourie Committee's Report and draft law were published in 1997. The Shourie Committee draft law was passed through two successive governments, but was never introduced in Parliament.
In 1999 NDA minister Ram Jethmalani, then Union Minister for Urban Development, issued an administrative order enabling citizens to inspect and receive photocopies of files. Shourie Committee's draft law was reworked into the Freedom of Information Bill 2000. It was passed in December 2002 and received Presidential assent in January 2003, as the Freedom of Information Act 2002.[6]
In 1998, during the Rajasthan State elections the Congress Party promised in its election manifesto to enact a law on right to information if it came to power. Following their election, the Congress Party appointed a committee of bureaucrats to draft a bill on the right to information. As the Committee was comprised only of bureaucrats, civil society organisations raised strong objections. As a result, members of MKSS and National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI) were invited to assist in drafting the bill. MKSS and NCPRI conducted a host of consultations in each divisional headquarters of the State. Drawing on the input from these consultations, a draft civil society Right to Information Bill was prepared, which was then submitted to the Committee. The Committee drew on the citizens draft Bill for its recommendations, but refused to accept the Bill in toto. The Rajasthan Right to Information Act 2000 was eventually passed on 11 May 2000. The Act in its final form retained many of the suggestions of the RTI movement, but diluted others.[7]
In the early 2000s Anna Hazare led a movement in Maharashtra state which forced the state government to pass a stronger Maharashtra Right to Information Act. This Act was later considered as the base document for the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI), enacted by the Union Government. It also ensured that the President of India assented to this new Act.[8] Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party won the 2004 national elections and formed the central government. Aruna Roy was inducted into the National Advisory Committee (NAC), an extremely powerful but extra-constitutional quasi-governmental body headed by Sonia Gandhi which effectively supervises the working of the common minimum program of UPA II .[9] Aruna Roy submitted a paper recommending amendments to the 2002 Freedom of Information Act to the NAC which in turn sent by it to the Prime Minister's Office. The Right to Information Bill 2004 (RTI Bill 2004) was tabled on 23 December during the winter session of the Lok Sabha. The RTI Bill 2004 was based largely on recommendations submitted to the Government by the NAC which was passed by the Indian parliament in 2005.[6] On 20 July 2006 the Union Cabinet amended the Right to Information Act 2005 to exclude the file noting by the government officials from its purview. Hazare began his fast unto death on 9 August 2006 in Alandi against the proposed amendment. He ended his fast on 19 August 2006, after the government agreed to change its earlier decision.[10]
Freedom of Information Act 2002
The establishment of a national-level law, however, proved to be a difficult task. Given the experience of state governments in passing practicable legislation, the Central Government appointed a working group under H. D. Shourie and assigned it the task of drafting legislation. The Shourie draft, in an extremely diluted form, was the basis for the Freedom of Information Bill, 2000 which eventually became law under the Freedom of Information Act, 2002.[citation needed] In late 2002 the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) asked for scrutiny of the proposed bill by the Supreme Court to determine whether the bill gave citizens sufficient power to find out about governance. The government had been reluctant to recognise that the people had a right to know, and after the CPIL filing it rushed through the bill without correcting known defects.[11] This Act was severely criticised for permitting too many exemptions, not only under the standard grounds of national security and sovereignty, but also for requests that would involve "disproportionate diversion of the resources of a public authority". There was no upper limit on the charges that could be levied. There were no penalties for not complying with a request for information. This Act, consequently, never came into effective force..shailendar kumar
1st year
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