Right to Information

The Right to Information Act, 2005 was enacted 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.” The enactment which is now fifteen years old was made with lofty and laudable objectives. It was meant to serve as a tool for the public to seek and get information relating to matters of public interest, to remove the clouds of suspicion around any acts of any public authority.

Media reports show that there is an orchestrated attempt to sabotage the RTI Act, 2005, which is being found to give a lot of discomfort to various State and Central governments. This attempt is made irrespective of political parties and irrespective of governments. Central Information Commission (CIC) and State Information Commissions (SIC) are the pillars of RTI Act, 2005. But the top slot has been remaining vacant in the CIC and also in the SIC in many States for a long time making these statutory bodies directionless. There are no sincere attempts either to fill these slots.  Further, we often come across with instances where there has been an attempt to provide the information sought under the Act either with inordinate delay or without clarity and without touching the core of the issue.

The right to Information was recognised as a constitutionally protected right in a plethora of decisions delivered by the Supreme Court even prior to the enactment of the RTI Act, 2005. It is imperative that the RTI Act, 2005 is given utmost importance and sanctity by both the Central and all the State governments by every possible means to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens.