Open Access Research Article
“TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE STATE SECURITY: EVALUATING THE STRAIN IN THE RTI ACT 2005, THE WHISTLE BLOWERS ACT,2014 AND THE OFFICER’S SECRET ACT, 1923”
Abstract
Transparency and secrecy are prima
facie contradictory principles of democratic governance. As one requires
citizens right to know while the other protects information from disclosure.
This further gets complicated when an insider tries to expose abuse of power,
or other institutional wrongdoings.
In Indian legal system, legislations
– The Officials Secret Act,1923,
the Right to Information Act, 2005 and the Whistleblowers Act, 2014 deals with
secrecy, transparency and protection of whistleblowers respectively with
each embodying different legislative intent. Where the Right
to Information Act,2005 aims to maximise the dissemination of
information, on the other hand, the Officials Secret Act ,1923 empowers the government to classify
any information as secret without subject to any exceptions, which may disguise
disclosure of wrongful act as secrecy, and restrains transparency as intended
under the RTI Act 2005. The
Whistleblowers Act, 2014 tries to unravel the corruption and abuse of power
prevailing in the public institutions with protecting the insider or the
informant’s identity.
This essay aims to examines that
whether these legislations can create a balance between protection of whistle
blowers with guaranteeing state’s transparency and accountability while
upholding state’s secrecy and security.
Published Paper
Author Details
Authors: LAXMI NARAYANRegistration ID: 1013295 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13295Year: Oct-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 7Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, IndiaPage No.: 435- 452
Article Information
“TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE STATE SECURITY: EVALUATING THE STRAIN IN THE RTI ACT 2005, THE WHISTLE BLOWERS ACT,2014 AND THE OFFICER’S SECRET ACT, 1923”
Authors: LAXMI NARAYAN
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Volume 3
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- AbbreviationIJLRA
- ISSN2582-6433
- AccessOpen Access
- LicenseCC 4.0
All research articles published in International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis are open access and available to read, download and share, subject to proper citation of the original work.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis.