Table of Contents
Current Affair
- The Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde recently called for a “filter” to check abuse of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
CJI’s statement
- find a way to stop the abuse of RTI Act
- paralysis and fear about the RTI Act, due to which people are not taking decisions.
Act provisions
- Section 6(2) of the Act says: “An applicant making request for information shall not be required to give any reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him.
- “Section 8(1)(j) says: “The information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person.”
Genesis of RTI
- State of Uttar Pradesh vs Raj Narain.
- 12 states had enacted their own transparency laws before it was passed as a central legislation and implemented in 2005.
Stronger RTI
- Denial of Information – In Jayantilal vs RBI case 2015, the SC observed that the Public Information Officers shouldn’t deny the public their access to the information that they are entitled to.
- NGOs under RTI – In DAV College Trust vs DPI case 2019, the SC declared that NGOs are not beyond the RTI Act.
Why overuse is a concern???
- Time consumed in replying – In CBSE vs Aditya & Ors case in 2011, the SC said that the nation doesn’t want a scenario where 75% of the public authorities’ staff spends 75% of their time in collecting and furnishing information to applicants.
- Personal and public – In Girish vs Central Information Commission & Ors case 2012, the SC observed that an employee’s performance in an organisation is a matter between the employee and the employer.
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