BUSINESS LAW

Individual Assignment: Book Review based Analysis

“Right to Information”

Submitted To: Prof. Mahesh Gupta

MBA (FT) 2018-20

Date of Submission: 7th March, 2019

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Table of Content:

Content Page No.

1 Introduction to RTI 4
1.1 Need of Right to Information 4

1.2 The History 4

1.3 Disclosure of Government Information in India 4
1.4 Features of the Right To Information 5
1.5 Objectives of RTI 5
1.6 Proactive disclosure of Information 6
2 Procedure to access for information 6
3 RTI as a tool to fight corruption 7
4 Cases of RTI Act, 2005 8
5 Annexures 9
6 Book Review and Learning 12
7 References 13

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Right to Information:

“The idea of ‘Government by the people’ makes it necessary that people have access to
information on matters of public concern. It creates a the condition for ‘open governance’
which is a foundation of democracy.”

- RTI India

Introduction:

Need of Right to Information

In a democratic country, every citizen contributes to the government treasures by paying direct
or indirect taxes. Therefore, they have right to know the utilization of the money they have
contributed to the government. The charge has now been given to some NGOs and
organizations to show activities in the interest of large number of people. These organizations
have become responsible for providing information to public and make the system transparent.
Right to Information is essential in ensuring accountability and good governance. It is not
possible to provide every information to public, that is why some restrictions are necessary to
information.

The History

The first political commitment came up to the citizens of India of Lok Sabha election, 1977.
Morarji Desai of Janata Party promised “An open Government” and declared that “There would
not be any misuse of the talent and governmental authority for personal”. In 1986, Supreme
Court of India gave judgement on Freedom of Speech and Expressions in Act 19 as without
Right to Information no freedom of speech or expressions will be satisfied. During period of
central government’s judgement on RTI, several states implemented their own law on RTI.
These states were Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Delhi. After
difficult lobbying, Right to Information Act [2005] was implemented with 150 amendments in
India.

Disclosure of Government Information in India

In India, first disclosure of government information was enacted in 1889 while British were
ruling the country. Actually, in the first position this act was made to keep information secret

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so that no one passes it and it was offence then. Though this law secures information related to
security of the state, sovereignty of the country and friendly relation with other states. Then the
owners and managers of the press decided which facts, details, information or persons should
go to public under this law. The press commission noticed that the essence of the law is to give
public the opportunity to study various views and newspaper held the monopolistic position
that time. Thus, mass media developed the medium for unpopular ideas, unorthodox point of
views which had no claim for expressions.

Some of the Features of the Right to Information Act, 2005

1. Any citizen of India can get information from any department of central, state and other
institutions or organizations.
2. Every citizen can ask any questions, take copies of documents, inspect the document or
take sample of material from the public authority.
3. In every department, there should be one person designated as Public Information
Officer to solve citizens’ queries.
4. The person seeking government information should file an application in writing or
through electronic generation along with fees.
5. If a person can not make the request in writing, the authority has to provide assistance
for the same, which reduces the efforts of writing.
6. In the case of applicant is handicap, the public authority is supposed to assist him with
every information needed.
7. The applicant is not required to provide his personal details other than contact details.
8. If the authority feels that this sought information is nor related to his department, then
its his responsibility to forward the application to the concerned department.
9. The Public Officer can deny to provide information, if it is exempted from disclosure.
10. In the case of the authority doesn’t provide information and trouble the applicant, then
he has right to file the complaint against him.

Objective of Right to Information Act

The basic object of the Right to Information.Act is to empower the citizens, promote
transparency and accountability in the working.of the Government, contain corruption, and
make our.democracy work for the people in real sense. This law provides secure access to
information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and
accountability. This act creates remedial structure to secure the Right to Information.

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Proactive disclosure of Information

Public authorities are bound to provide minimum information, if the applicant has asked for it.

i. About the institution and its employees

ii. Decision making process
iii. Methods of formulation of policy
iv. Constituted Bodies
v. Remuneration and compensation received by its employees
vi. Budget allocation
vii. Information held by the institutions
viii. Details of Public Information Officers
ix. Other information and their updating

Procedure for access to information

Offline Mode:

I. Whoever citizen desire to get the information from public authority can make request
to the officer. Public information officers are there to receive those applications.
II. The information seeker should request the application in writing or any digital
electronics means in Hindi or English or any official language. Reason for request or
detailed address are not necessary but contact has to be given.
III. There is no such prescribed format of application, but the applicant is supposed to write
name and postal address.
IV. According to Right to Information rules, 2012, the application fees are Rs. 10 and the
word limit is 500. The fees have to be paid within 7 days, otherwise the application can
be withdrawn.
V. Mode of fees can be in cash, demand draft, bank cheques or any other electronic means.
VI. After this, the applicant is allowed to access to the information, but the public
information officer can reject the request under section 8.
VII. Partial disclosure of the information is possible if it doesn’t come under any section
obligation.

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Right to Information as tool to fight against corruption:

As the democracy provides Right to Information act, it gives transparency of information,

which is very important for its functions as the government contains some of the corrupts
officers. By implementing this act, the corruption can come out of the system and issues can
be solved.

There is a table provided on Corruption Perception Index of the which shows the transparency
in the government.

Year Total Countries CPI Score (10) Rank

2000 90 2.8 69th
2001 91 2.7 71st
2002 102 2.7 71st
2003 133 2.8 83rd
2004 146 2.8 90th
2005 159 2.9 88th
2006 163 3.3 70th
2007 180 3.5 72nd
2008 180 3.4 85th
2009 180 3.4 84th
2010 178 3.3 87th
2011 182 3.1 95th
2012 176 3.6 94th
2013 177 3.6 94th
2014 175 3.8 85th
2015 168 3.8 76th
Corruption Perception Index (2000-2015)

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Cases of Right to Information Act, 2005

1.) CBSE vs Aditya Bandhopadhyay

If an applicant of CBSE needs to find the duplicate of solution sheets then he/she needs to
pay Rs. 700 for every subject. Likewise, for the procedure of "Confirmation. of Marks"
CBSE requests Rs. 300 for every subject. If a hopeful connected for RTI, CBSE would
deny the equivalent referring to. the reason of segment 8 (e) thus the competitor's demand
was denied. In any case, on 9th August,2011 the Supreme Court of India gave its judgment.
as the word guardian connection utilized is according to the typical sense for example a
parent with reference. to a youngster, a legal counsellor with reference to a customer, a
specialist with reference to a patient, an operator with reference to a primary, an executive
of an organization with.reference to an investor thus CBSE can't deny the equivalent under
RTI segment 8 (e).

2.) The Adarsh Scam

The Adarsh Housing society was a 31-storey building, which was supposed to be the 6-
storey building according to legal document. Then RTI came into the force and two activists
Simpreet Singh and Yogacharya Anandji to expose how politicians and bureaucrats make
money by cheating the government. The RTI applications were sent to several public bodies
and it was revealed that the land didn’t belong to Ministry of Maharashtra but it was
belonged to the Central Government. The disturbing aspect of Adarsh scam was how
ministers, politicians and top army heads were involved in scandals.

3.) Shahzad Singh vs Department of Posts

Shahzad Singh filed RTI to department of posts.asking for the information regarding to
posts for Sr. Hindi Translators. However, the department stated the files were missing and
so the asked.information cannot be provided to the applicant. CIC gave the decision that it
was not valid reason and the.claim of ‘missing files could deduce the possibility of
deliberate destruction.of records to hide the corruption, fraud or.immoral practices of public
servants, which is a crime.under Indian Penal Code. Hence, information can’t be denied on
the.Ground that File is missing.

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Annexure 1

Figure: RTI Online

Annexure 2

Figure: Online RTI Status Form

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Annexure 3

Figure: RTI online application form

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Annexure 4

Figure: Guidelines for the use of RTI online portal

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Book review and Learning:

The book titled “Right to Information” by Krishna Pal Malik was selected for the book review.
The book contains the deep knowledge about the law including constitutional perspective,
public authorities, procedure for access to information, etc. the book states that RTI has been
very powerful tool in strengthening democracy and making the government transparent and
accountable. The book also evaluates the impact of RTI on government as well as citizens of
the country. Overall the book gives the clear idea on RTI and how it is beneficial to the people.

I had a vague idea about Right to Information, but after reading this book, I have gained quite
in depth knowledge about this act. I got to know how important this act is and how much it was
needed in our constitution. This act has brought transparency in the government and it is also
controlled so that confidential information doesn’t get leaked. Though the government has
provided citizens with the act, it is every citizens’ noble responsibility that they do not misuse
of it. Overall I would like to rate this book as 7.5 out of 10. The website of RTI is well organized
and easy to access understand. One should also go through it for further knowledge.

Website: www.rbi.gov.in

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References:

 https://rti.gov.in/
 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sc-
defreezes-three-bank-accounts-of-mumbais-adarsh-
society/articleshow/62385789.cms
 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1519371/
 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/186837217/

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