Threat from within

ON December 6, Vigyan Bhawan, a government-run convention centre in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, was filled with hundreds of people from across the country— those implementing the Right to Information system and those using it. In his relatively brief address, he spoke about appointment of Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission, the top adjudicating authority for the RTI Act, and suggested possible changes to the rules for filing RTI applications with a stated intent of cutting down on the backlog and the number of applications that are filed every year. In recent months, the Supreme Court has set aside appointments of information commissioners in AP and Kerala as due process was not followed in appointments.” On the Minister’s claim that all vacancies of ICs had been filled “for the first time”, the NCPRI stated: “The Minister recounted that the BJP government had filled all the vacancies in the CIC and the CIC functioned at full capacity of 11 commissioners. The NCPRI urges the government to immediately appoint the information commissioners to fill the 3 vacancies in a transparent manner.” Independent RTI activists, known for their role in exposing corruption in high office or by prominent personalities, were also upset with the Minister’s pronouncements. perhaps the earlier government not unseated RTI Act instrumental in exposing so many scams like CWG, 2-G, coal block.” Agrawal said: “Practical corrective measures like making identity proof compulsory with every RTI application, as also directed by Punjab and Haryana High Court in its verdict dated 02.11.2012 in the matter Fruit & Merchant Union vs Unknown, and having a uniform RTI fees of Rs.50 inclusive of copying charges for first 20 copied pages can be instrumental.” While complaints about the misuse of the RTI are raised, often by sections of the bureaucracy and the political class, evidence on the extent of misuse is rarely presented.