Right To Information

Role of Right to Information in ensuring good governance, statutory backing, provisions

of the act, and rights provided to citizens and duties of officials.

Right to Information: Objectives of the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005

The RTI Act was implemented with the following objectives:

Allow the citizens of the country to question the working government.

Promote transparency and answerability of the working government.

Check corruption prevailing in the government to serve the citizens better.

Make citizens well-informed about the functioning of the government system.

Right to Information: Kinds of Information that can be accessed through RTI Act

Any sort of information that the government can disclose in the parliament is allowed to
be questioned by the citizens. In other words, the citizens of India have the right to any
information. They can question the government authorities at any time through the RTI
Act.

However, there are some limitations to the type of information that can be accessed.
Information that can hamper the sovereignty and integrity of our country is exempted
from the scope of the Right to Information Act. Sensitive information related to our
country’s internal security or information related to India’s association with other
countries vital for maintaining healthy relations with each other, Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR), and any cabinet discussions is free from the RTI Act 2005.
Importance of Right to Information Act

The Right to Information is a fundamental right of the citizens. As a responsible citizen,

one must be aware of the RTI Act 2005. In this section, a few points emphasizing its
importance are discussed:

The Right to Information Act allows citizens to be empowered to question the

confidentiality and ill-practices prevailing in the state of government in power.

Authorities at the central and state levels help citizens to fetch the information using
the RTI Act.

The information subject to RTI is treated as public property as the information coming
under the scope of the RTI Act is subjected to the interests of Indian citizens. Such
information is also fundamental for the transparency of democracy and successful
administration.
The information subject to the RTI Act is crucial for the accountability of the
government in power. It is also useful for other reasons,
RTI enables the common citizens of our country to question even the highest and most
powerful authority.

The RTI Act allows people to fetch information that governments and officials would
otherwise not reveal.

The RTI Act helps in exposing corruption prevailing in the government systems,
bringing the focus on any violation of human rights, and highlighting malpractices of
government authorities at union or state levels.

Through the RTI Act, citizens gain access to information on decision-making, policies,
and activities of the government that have direct impacts on the citizens.

The Supreme Court has declared RTI as a fundamental right referring to Articles 19
and 21 of the Indian Constitution, which ensures that citizens have the freedom of
speech and expression and freedom to live.
Right to Information: Amendments of the RTI Act 2005

A few important provisions under the RTI Act 2005 are discussed in this section. We
will dig into a short brief of each amenity.

Section 2(h): This section of the RTI Act defines ‘Public Authorities’. All working
organisations/bodies/authorities falling under the jurisdiction of union, state or local
bodies are defined as public authorities. Additionally, civil organisations that are
fundamentally funded (may be directly or indirectly) by citizens’ funds also come under
the RTI Act 2005.

Section 4 1(b): This section mentions that the working government should have
updated information available which they are liable to share when needed.

Section 6: This section mentions a simple procedure for the citizens to know about
fetching information under the RTI Act.
Section 7: This section specifies a time period for the government to provide
information to the citizens.

Section 8: This section specifies how much minimum information should be disclosed
when someone files an RTI.

Section 8 (1): This section contains the list of all the exemptions for providing
information under the RTI Act.

Section 8 (2): This section explains the exemptions under the Official Secrets Act,
1923, serving the public interest.

Section 19: This section defines a two-tier procedure for appealing an RTI.
Section 20: This section explains the punishment or penalties for failing to provide
information within the stipulated time or providing misleading, insufficient, deceptive or
incorrect information.
Section 23: This section specifies the functioning of lower courts in case of an RTI
application.
Limitations of RTI

Sometimes the RTI can be misused or abused to waste the valuable time of the public
authorities by asking for irrelevant information that has no public interest.

Some people may use RTI as a mode of attaining popularity by scandalising

unimportant information.

To attain publicity by filing RTI.

Sometimes the public authorities are simply harassed and forced by misusing RTI.

The large population of our country, lack of awareness, and illiteracy are challenges in
exercising RTI in India.

Sometimes RTI is misused as a tool for redressing grievances, which is not a primary
objective in the RTI Act 2005.
RTI amendment act 2019

The Right to Information (Amendment) Act, 2019 changed the terms and conditions of
service for the Information Commissioners and the Chief Information Commissioner
(CIC) at the state and central levels. The Act was passed in the 249th Session of the
Rajya Sabha and came into force on October 24, 2019.

The Act's amendments include:

Term of office
The Act removed the five-year term of office for the CIC and Information
Commissioners. Instead, the central government now determines the term of office for
these position
Salaries and allowances

The Act removed the previous salary structure, where the CIC and Information
Commissioners' salaries were equal to those of the Chief Election Commissioner and
Election Commissioners. Instead, the government now prescribes the salaries and
allowances for these positions.

Conditions of service

The Act gives the central government the power to determine other conditions of
service for the CIC and Information Commissioner