Freedom of Infornation
Freedom of Infornation
Freedom of Infornation
accountability and the equal treatment of all people under the rule of law. They are important asan
Legal provision ---The right to information is a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) of the
Indian Constitution. In 1976, in the Raj Narain vs the State of Uttar Pradesh case, the Supreme
Court ruled that Right to information will be treated as a fundamental right under article 19. The
Supreme Court held that in Indian democracy, people are the masters and they have the right to
know about the working of the government.
Thus the government enacted the Right to Information act in 2005 which provides machinery for
exercising this fundamental right.
The act is one of the most important acts which empowers ordinary citizens to question the
government and its working. This has been widely used by citizens and media to uncover
corruption, progress in government work, expenses-related information, etc.
The primary goal of the Right to Information Act is to empower citizens, promote openness and
accountability in government operations, combat corruption, and make our democracy truly
function for the people. It goes without saying that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep
a required track on governance instruments and hold the government responsible to the
governed. The Act is a significant step in informing citizens about the activities of the
government.
All constitutional authorities, agencies, owned and controlled, also those organisations which are
substantially financed by the government comes under the purview of the act. The act also
mandates public authorities of union government or state government, to provide timely response
to the citizens’ request for information.
The act also imposes penalties if the authorities delay in responding to the citizen in the
stipulated time.
The citizens can seek any information from the government authorities that the government can
disclose to the parliament.
Some information that can affect the sovereignty and the integrity of India is exempted from the
purview of RTI.
Information relating to internal security, relations with foreign countries, intellectual property rights
(IPR), cabinet discussions are exempted from RTI.
Section 2(h): Public authorities mean all authorities and bodies under the union
government, state government or local bodies. The civil societies that are substantially
funded, directly or indirectly, by the public funds also fall within the ambit of RTI.
Section 4 1(b): Government has to maintain and proactively disclose information.
Section 6: Prescribes a simple procedure for securing information.
Section 7: Prescribes a time frame for providing information(s) by PIOs.
Section 8: Only minimum information exempted from disclosure.
Section 8 (1) mentions exemptions against furnishing information under the RTI Act.
Section 8 (2) provides for disclosure of information exempted under the Official Secrets
Act, 1923 if the larger public interest is served.
Section 19: Two-tier mechanism for appeal.
Section 20: Provides penalties in case of failure to provide information on time, incorrect,
incomplete or misleading or distorted information.
Section 23: Lower courts are barred from entertaining suits or applications. However, the
writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India and high courts under Articles 32 and 226
of the Constitution remains unaffected.
CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay & Ors. (2011)
Issue
In CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay & Ors. (2011), the main issue before the
Supreme Court was whether or not an examinee’s right to information under
the RTI Act 2005 includes the right of for the student to view and inspect
his/her evaluated answer books in a public examination, and also whether or
not the examinee has the right to take certified copies of the same. The
examining body, which was CBSE, had claimed that it held the information
without giving it out to the student in a relationship of trust (fiduciary
relationship). CBSE claimed that this was exempted under Section 8(1)(e) of
the RTI Act.
Issue
In Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commission & Ors.
(2013), whether or not the information like movable/immovable property,
assets liabilities and information with reference to the career of a public
servant may be denied. The defendant argued that the information which
was sought for is qualified to be personal information as exempted in Section
8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.
Observation of the Court (Judgement)
Para 14 – “The details disclosed by a person in his income tax returns are
“personal information” which stand exempted from disclosure under clause
(j) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, unless involves a larger public interest and
the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer
or the Appellate Authority is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies
the disclosure of such information
Bibliography ---https://rti.gov.in/index.asp