Why we disagree with Justice Kapadia’s grouse on RTI "misuse"

The statement by Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia on Thursday that the Right to information (RTI) Act was being misused to ask “ irrelevant and intrusive questions ” has received wide national attention. Although the media headlines made it sound like a sweeping statement, Justice Kapadia was referring to RTI applications with respect to the working of the judges of the Supreme Court. He has reportedly said that he had given answers to all the RTI questions except very few. “But the kind of questions and their number is also exceeding limit.”[caption id=“attachment_275070” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Chief Justice of India, Justice SH Kapadia. Image courtesy PIB”] [/caption] Are we asking irrelevant questions and exceeding the limit? Absolutely not. Because that is the spirit behind RTI - to make our public institutions and their people as transparent as possible. Information should be voluntarily available to the public; if not they have the authority, not just the right, to ask for it. In fact, the RTI Act is amply clear on this. Section 4 (2) of the Act makes it abundantly unequivocal when it says that “it shall be a constant endeavour of every public authority to take steps to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular intervals so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information”. In simple words, public authorities should voluntarily disclose everything possible so that people don’t have to file an RTI application for simple things that they want to know. In fact, those who complain about the plethora of applications should appreciate the efforts of people in pressing for more transparency, which is the cornerstone of effective governance. That is the intent of Section 4, which is extremely important in the RTI Act. In fact, sub section (1) necessitates all public authorities to “maintain all records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and form which facilitates the right to information”. It also necessitates that “all records, that are appropriate to be computerised, are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerised and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated”. It is incumbent upon the authorities to put systems in place so that its functioning is systematically recorded, catalogued, computerised and hosted in public domains. If these steps are taken, answers to many of the questions, however “irrelevant” they may sound, are freely available to the public. Some questions, as Justice Kapadia noted, might sound “irrelevant”, but it is the right of the information-seeker to decide whether it is relevant or not. Bits of information sought might look silly in parts, but together they might make a cogent case. In another context, such “irrelevant” questions might also be the way to put pressure on public authorities to implement section 4 (1) and (2) of the Act. In fact the Section 4 (1) (b) asks all public authorities to publish information under 17 heads within three months of the enactment of the Act. Had it been implemented, many basic RTI queries would stop. Section (1) is important for implementation of section (2). In a country that lived for decades in stone-age of public information, RTI is an opportunity to transform the devious ways of our politicians and bureaucrats who thrive on opaque institutions and processes. Some of these “irrelevant” questions may also be the way that the harried and oppressed citizens choose to protest. The solution is not to slam people who ask questions, but to encourage more and more openness, if not absolute transparency. Let people ask questions. One way to get this done is to encourage people to file more RTI applications asking public authorities on the progress on the implementation of section 4(1)(b). Here is a sample RTI application, prepared by a Delhi-based activist , asking a public authority on the progress of his/her institution on Section 4. To The Public Information Officer, ………………….. …………………… …………………….. *Sub: Application under the Right to Information Act 2005 * Dear Sir/Madam, Please provide the following information under the Right to Information act 2005, with respect to 1. Under Section 4 (1) (a) of the Right to Information act 2005, all public authorities are suppose to maintain all their records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner that facilitates the Right to Information. In this regard, what steps have been taken by the your office to meets its obligation under Section 4(1) (a). Please provide details of steps, mechanisms, process and/or systems adopted by the your office to fulfill this responsibility. 2. Please provide certified copies of the instructions/ orders etc. received from superior authorities with respect to implementation of the Right to Information act 2005. 1. Under Section 4(2) of the Right to Information act 2005, all public authorities have to *suo motu* disclose information pertaining to their functioning as per the 17 points listed under Section 4(1) (b). In this regard please provide the following information:- 1. Has the your office/department *suo motu* made public, information falling under all the 17 points listed under section 4(1) (b)? 2. If yes, please provide information regarding the medium and format in which the information has been displayed. 3. Is this information easily accessible? Please list the options available to the public to access this information. 4. What steps has your office taken to provide as much information as possible *suo motu* to the public so that they do not have to apply under section 4 (2) of the RTI Act 2005? Please provide details of steps taken. 5. What steps have been taken by your office to disseminate widely the information w.r.t section 4 (1), in a manner easily accessible to the public? Please provide details of the steps taken for dissemination. 6. Has your office updated the information listed in the 17 points under section 4(1) (b)? If yes, then please provide the dates on which the information was updated, the process undertaken to update the information, the officer(s) in-charge of ensuring that the information is updated and made available under section 4(1) (b). 7. Has your office put up notice boards under section 4 (4) (ref. to explanations), giving the details about the CPIO etc.: in its office, subordinate offices. If yes, then please provide certified copies of office orders sent to the concerned offices and action taken report received from them. 1. Has your office published all relevant facts while formulating policies or announcing decisions that affect the public as required under Section 4(1) (c)? 1. If yes, then please provide certified copies of notifications, orders, government resolutions, circulars and any other means of communication or documents, files including file notings through which the same was carried out. 1. What steps have been undertaken by your office to ensure that it provides reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons? Please provide details of the process, mechanism and/or systems that are in place to meet this obligation under Section 4(1) (d). 1. With respect to point 3 (g) above, I would like to inspect the said work under section 2 (j) subsection (i) of the RTI act 2005. Please let me know the date, time and venue for the inspection. The above requested information maybe kindly furnished within the time period of 30 days as provided in section 7. I am depositing Rs. 10 as application fees. Please do not use any acronym/abbreviations in the reply. The reply should be English under section 7(9) of the RTI act 2005. If you do not directly deal with this application or a part thereof, kindly forward it to the right PIO under section 6(3) of RTI Act with intimation to me. You are required to do so within 5 days of receipt of this application, as per section 6(3) of the Act. Thanking You, Yours Faithfully, Here is an easy to understand summary of RTI and practical steps of its use, including a sample template for filing an application. Now go ahead and ask those questions.