Transparency laws are vital to a democracy

Instead of protecting the Right to Information Act, at every stage governments of various parties are competing with each other to puncture its spirit at every stage.

Hyderabad: Accountability and transparency are the two eyes of good governance in any State system. Needless to say that power in the country has become synonymous with corruption, thanks to the political parties that have opened the floodgates to secretly loot the public money under the shield of the Official Secrecy Act of the Colonial Era.

Although the Supreme Court had clarified in 1986 that Article 19 of the Constitution grants freedom of expression to all citizens, governments did not bother to make that revolutionary law till the next 19 years. It is 15 years since the enactment of the Right to Information Act to act as a beacon in the hands of the people to dispel the darkness of corruption in positions of power. Any inquiry into the efforts of the Central and State Governments in building a transparent system of governance on the foundations of accountability will only lead to utter disappointment.

Instead of protecting the Right to Information Act, at every stage governments of various parties are competing with each other to puncture its spirit at every stage. Though over 3 crore applications received in the last fifteen years reveal the benefit of RTI, only three per cent people requested information under the Act. Approximately 2.2 lakh cases are pending in the Central and State Level Information Commissions and in the Central Commission itself it is taking two years to resolve grievances, indicating a foolproof system has not been achieved.

The lack of staff in nine of the 29 Information Commissions and the non-compliance of governments with the orders of the Supreme Court to ensure a smooth process of the appointment of Commissioners is crippling the system. With 40 to 60 lakh RTI applications pouring in every year, 55 per cent not getting any response and less than 10 per cent going in for appeals, proves that old practices of the government departments have not been dispensed with.

Governments' shrewdness in turning a 'bowl of silver' into an ‘earthen pot' is astounding. Just within a few years of enacting the Information Act with lofty ideals, the UPA government reversed scene by declaring that the views of the authorities on the files will not come under the purview of the law to further their crooked political interests.

As a result, a tendency to fill Information Commissions with their own favourites has developed. Since the RTI Act came into force, nearly 60 per cent of those appointed as Information Commissioners are former government officers. Eighty-three per cent of those who headed the Information Commissions are government servants. Already the system had more than 25 per cent vacancies and adding insult to the injury, the NDA government came forward last year with amendments to the Act which would further weaken the system.

By deciding that there is no parity between the Election Commission and the Information Commission and making amendments lowering the status of the Information Commission members by bringing them under the purview of the Central Government, thus by controlling their appointments, tenure of term, salaries and allowances, etc., the Centre has restricted their freedom.

The judiciary, which gave a historic judgment in November last that the Chief Justice's office and the 'Supreme Court' would come under the purview of the RTI with certain conditions, strongly supported the 'right to information' in those instances. At the same time, the Chief Justice of India's remark that the RTI is being corrupted as a tool of blackmail is affecting everyone for the mistakes of some people. Citizens' right to know is vital to a democracy. It is everyone's duty to protect it as a civil right.