Plea Of Army For Exemption From RTI: An Approach Devoid Of Merits

In the landmark judgment of SP Gupta Vs Union of India, Supreme Court of India held, "the concept of open government is the direct emanation from the right to know, which seems to be implicit in the right of free speech and expression guaranteed under article 19 of Constitution." Another ground taken by the Army to include it in the exemption list is that most of the RTI applications are filed by armed forces personnel seeking information for individual matters which are not of public interest. As per available data, approximately 57000 applications seeking information under RTI were received by armed forces between 2017 and 2020, out of which 986 applications sought information on operational aspects which were rejected outrightly. Is Argument Of Army Sustainable When the RTI Act is analysed in its entirety, then the argument of danger to national security by armed forces does not hold water. Secondly, as rightly pointed out by HS Panag, a retired Lt General of Indian Army and former GOC in C of Northern & Central Command, the only reason armed forces are seeking exemption is to keep up with Joneses and in this case, the 26 central agencies notified by government in schedule 2 under section 24 of RTI Act.