“It’s not practical to bring private companies under RTI Act,” says activist Shailesh Gandhi 

Shailesh Gandhi, former Central Information Commissioner (CIC), has been an active Right To Information (RTI) activist ever since he left the job in 2012.  Gandhi, who claims to have disposed off more than 20,000 applications during his stint as a Central Information Commissioner (between 2008 and 2012), continues with his crusade on a range of topics using the RTI as a weapon. [caption id=“attachment_697356” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shailesh Gandhi. Image courtesy Shailesh Gandhi’s Facebook page[/caption] In an interview with Firstpost, Gandhi spoke on a range of issues he has dealt with including the Mallyagate, the RBI and the recent controversy on PM Modi’s academic degree. Excerpts from the interview: Will bringing private companies into the RTI’s ambit be of any help in cases such as the Vijay Mallya-Kingfisher episode? I don’t think it is practical to do that. Implementation is a major challenge. If you do it with the private sector, with a weak judicial system in place, it will be a complete disaster. If each company goes and challenges it in a court, the situation will be untenable. Worldwide, only South Africa has brought private firms under the RTI ambit and, there, the experience has not been good. You say that Mallya is not the ‘big fish’. But, will bringing him to justice serve as a good example to others? My point is that the amount of attention spent on Mallya is distracting us from the more fundamental problem. To my mind, Mallya constitutes just one percent of the problem, while nobody is talking about the rest. There is so much hype on Mallya. His is a bad example but action against him should be a wake-up call to others, which is not happening. Even if we get him back, the weak Indian judicial system will not be able to do anything to him. You have criticised Strategic Debt Restructuring and Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR). But what are the alternatives? It is a very peculiar story. If you are a small (business), banks will hound you. If you are very large, they will restructure you. My worry is if we continue at this rate (on debt restructuring), public sector banks (PSBs) will soon become like Air India. I am unable to empathize with this kind of restructuring of business. CDR is not transparent. I have not got any answer on my RTI application on it yet. My appeal is pending with the Commission. SDR is funnier. They (banks) will reduce the loan. In Mallya’s case, it is said that about Rs 4,000 crore is the interest component alone. Is interest not a cost? The bank has to pay interest for every rupee that is deposited with it. That is a cost and the whole idea of saying interest must not be considered is wrong. How will the banks survive then? If this goes on, then PSBS will be pushed into bankruptcy. What about RBI’s transparency? In December-end, Governor Raghuram Rajan’s message to his employees seemed to reflect what was already stated in my orders (on transparency in RBI’s functioning and that of the banking system) as a commissioner as well as the Supreme Court judgement. I had great hopes that a change is coming. Unfortunately, two-three months later, it appears nothing is happening. Now the RBI is saying it is not going to give information as suggested by the SC. The truth is that the apex bank has not gone for a review petition which is legally the right way of doing it.  The RBI, instead, is saying that the SC must not release information which I feel is an illegal, unconstitutional and irresponsible behavior by the RBI. Recently, Arvind Kejriwal invoked the RTI for procuring information regarding PM Modi’s academic degrees. Was it a breach of privacy? First of all, the controversy over Prime Minister Modi’s educational qualification was an issue blown out of proportion. However, I would completely disagree that it is a breach of privacy. Privacy has many times been defined by the Supreme Court as things relating to the house, the body, sexual preferences, medical records and things like that. Under the RTI, a degree can be accessed. Do you feel that RTI is being misused by political parties to score brownie points? The number of RTI applications is certainly very large. However, this doesn’t dilute the importance of the RTI Act. True, there may be some miscreants who misuse the provision. It’s like some people coming to the temple only to steal chappals or pickpocket. But that doesn’t diminish the holiness of the temple. Naresh Agarwal of SP recently made an allegation that the RTI Act was passed under United States’ pressure. What do you make of such comments? Naresh Agarwal’s statement, particularly, was unfortunate. This is an insult to my nation and to the Parliament. I am ashamed none of the other members of the Parliament got up and told him that his statement was an insult to the Parliament. It shows that anybody in power generally dislikes being transparent and answerable to the people. Three serious attempts have been made to dilute the RTI Act – in 2006, 2009 and in 2013. This political dispensation (NDA) too does not like the RTI. It is unfortunate that Arvind Kejriwal’s government, to the best of my understanding, is no different from the earlier governments. It is sad, but true. The RTI  Act will complete 11 years this year. What more amendments are needed to strengthen it? Nil. No amendments are needed. Nothing is perfect in this world. This law is good and it delivers. There may be certain issues but the law works reasonably well. Whenever there are talks of strengthening the RTI, and once it goes through a parliamentary modification, I am convinced that the RTI Act will be diluted.