The 14th anniversary of Right to Information (RTI) Act, a key tool for participatory democracy in India, was celebrated on 12th October 2019. The event also saw the release of ‘Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India’, compiled by NGOs Satark Nagrik Sangathan and Centre for Equity Studies. This article will walk through some of the achievements and challenges brought about by the implementation of the RTI act in India.
Achievements of the RTI Act
The RTI Act has positioned itself as a major turning point in fostering government transparency and accountability towards its citizens. Essentially, it has empowered ordinary people with the privilege to pose questions to government authorities. This significantly aligns with democratic principles which believe in the power of giving voice to the common people.
Section 4 of the RTI Act stipulates a statutory duty for public authorities to maintain and publish public records to ensure easy access for the public. This is seen as a milestone in establishing transparency and accountability between citizens and public authorities.
One recent development following the RTI mandate is the launch of Jan Soochna Portal (JSP) by the government of Rajasthan. Taking a citizen-centric approach, the RTI Act has enabled information accessibility at all levels of public governance. On an average, approximately 60 lakh applications are filed each year under the RTI Act.
Challenges faced by the RTI Act
Despite its accomplishments, the enforcement of the RTI Act suffers from multiple challenges. One critical issue is the negligible action against officials who deny legitimate information, thereby breaching the law. This cripples the basic incentive-disincentive system designed into the Act.
Worryingly, the State and Central Information Commissions, which operate as appellate courts under the RTI Act, have failed to impose penalties in about 97% of violations. Shockingly, the State Commissions of Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura failed to impose penalties in all cases.
| State | Penalty Imposed |
|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | No |
| Sikkim | No |
| Mizoram | No |
| Tripura | No |
Information Commissions under the RTI Act
The commissions also hold authority to recommend disciplinary action against officials for consistent violations of the RTI Act. However, this power was exercised only by 10 states.
Many Information Commissions are either non-operational or function with limited capacity due to vacant posts of commissioners, including the chief information commissioner. The State Information Commission(SIC) of Andhra Pradesh, for instance, remains non-operational. The State Information Commission of West Bengal operates with only two commissioners.
The Central Information Commission (CIC), established in 2005 under the RTI Act provisions, now experiences an increasing workload resulting in significant case backlog. As a result, any new appeal to the CIC may take over one-and-a-half years for resolution.
