The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a prominent think tank, has recently presented a report named ‘Sunshine in the Courts: Ranking the High Courts on their compliance with the RTI Act’. This report introduces a new ‘Convenience Index’ which assesses how the Right to Information (RTI) rules established by India’s High Courts facilitate the RTI application process for citizens.
Understanding the RTI and its Significance
Under the RTI Act (2005), it is mandatory for every High Court to draft RTI rules that delineate the procedure for submitting RTI applications. While many High Courts have developed such rules, they are often unnecessarily complicated and create unforeseen obstacles for citizens wishing to file RTI applications.
Key Findings: The Discordance Between Rules and Practice
The report notes a significant discrepancy between the judiciary’s pronouncements on the RTI Act and the way High Courts are implementing it. Section 8 of the RTI Act only allows limited grounds for denying information to citizens. However, the RTI rules of several High Courts, including those at Bombay, Delhi, Gauhati, and Gujarat, have included supplementary grounds for turning down requests for information. This violation underscores a lack of quality proactive disclosures by many High Courts on their websites, which is contrary to Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act.
Transparency and Fees: Room for Improvement
The report also highlights an alarming lack of administrative and financial transparency across High Courts. Only a handful of these institutions are willing to provide copies of their budgets and audit reports under the RTI Act. Similarly, some High Courts, including Allahabad, Chhattisgarh, and Gauhati, do not recognize convenient payment methods, like postal orders. The Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand High Courts only accept court fee stamps as a viable payment method. In contrast, the Gujarat High Court has not specified any payment method, thereby adding to the uncertainties faced by RTI applicants.
‘Convenience Index’ Rankings
The report’s ‘Convenience Index’ shows no High Court reaching the level of convenience provided by the Government of India’s RTI rules. Among all the High Courts, Patna, Delhi, and Kerala performed the best on the index, while Gujarat, Madras, Meghalaya, and Chhattisgarh ranked at the bottom.
| High Courts | Index Ranking |
|---|---|
| Patna | 1 |
| Delhi | 2 |
| Kerala | 3 |
| Gujarat | Bottom |
| Madras | Bottom |
| Meghalaya | Bottom |
| Chhattisgarh | Bottom |
A Comparison with the Government of India
The RTI rules implemented by several High Courts are more inconvenient compared to those of the Government of India. For instance, many courts currently demand five times the fee that the Centre charges for filing RTI applications.
Recommendations for Improvement
The report suggests High Courts should publish easily understandable rules on their websites in local languages. It also urges courts to broaden their acceptable payment methods through RTI fees, simplifying the filing process for citizens.
