Open Access Research Article
ROLE OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
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Article Details
ROLE OF
RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
AUTHORED BY - AJIT BAPU KHAMKAR
ACADEMIC YEAR 2022-23
LL.M. 2ND YEAR
MODERN LAW COLLEGE,
GANESHKHIND, PUNE, MAHARASHTRA 411007
Right to Information and its Role in democratic
Governance
Right is an essential term and condition for
the promotion of the social life of an individual. These rights include: social
rights, political rights, legal rights, and human rights, these rights are the
claims of an individual who is rescinded in society which is recognized by the law and guaranteed by the
government. It is the responsibility of the state to guarantee rights to its citizen
for their personal development based on societal norms. Rights are necessary
for adequate development of human personality and making a favourable
environment for individual growth. Right s is the basic demand of common people
to claim their power and recognition in society on an individual basis and give
a contribution to the commonwealth of the country.
Keywords: right to information, commonwealth, norms,
adequate development.
INTRODUCTION
First time
in history Sweden was the country that came up with idea that to enact the
Right to information in 1766. In India the idea to establish the right to information
drift by the former Prime Minister V.P. Singh in the year 1990. The government
of India came up with the idea to introduce an act which is known as the right
to information which was passed by the parliament in 2005. Before this, the
provision of the right to information came into the-
IMPORTANCE OF THIS ACT
Right to
information came as a tool that empowers citizens to avail their rights like to
seek information from the government and
with help of this act promote transparency and
accountability in the working process of the government.It also helps to
stop corruption in the country and try
to enlarge the participation of the public at large in the operation of government performance which leads to good
governance in the country, It also leads to
decentralization of power which means that the power of the government
not restricted to few selected ones,
rather than it made available to every citizen to participate in the
democratic work of the country which
automatically leads to the confidence in law and strength democracy to administrate complete justice in
the country.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS ACT?
Bring transparency in the
governance of the country and representative obligation for their duties which
they do as per the need of their citizen. Check and balance the
present government for their duties and services through this act the
government has to be answerable to its citizens for any step they take for
their development. With the help of this act, any With the establishment of
this provision, the public became more well informed about their rights and
duties for the development of their country as well as for themselves to be part
in the activity of government and this act empowered weaker section of society
to have access to information about public policies and for their upliftment.
With help of this provision, the misconduct of public offices and organizations
get exposed like the commonwealth games which were held in 2010 in India it was
witnessed as one of the major scams in India involving pilferage of around Rs
70,000 crore. Another is the allocation of the 2G spectrum case which was
called a presumptive loss in the spectrum allocation in the range of Rs. 58,000
crores and 1.76 lakh crore. It improved the decision-making process by the
public authority by eliminating unnecessary secrecy from the common people of
the country.
CHALLENGES WITH THIS ACT
The first and foremost
problem with this provision is the low level of awareness among the public
about their rights and duties and this type of problem i.e., lack of awareness
mainly observed among rural areas and weaker sections of society and
disadvantaged communities especially
women and rural population, SC/OBC/ST category people who are unable to fetch
this right to known about their public authorities who are implementing and
making welfare schemes for them. Huge
Backlog and hindrances in the disposal of the case and time taking responses
from public officials due to many reasons such as the inadequate number of
information commissioners at the centre level due to which is there is a delay
in hearing and disposal of cases, Due to useless and poor quality, inappropriate
information, the filing of Appel increased at a higher level under RTI Act.
Poor management and dealing with information from public officials could also
lead to delays in the process of RTI applications. Dissatisfaction from the information seeker
side due to the availability of incomplete and
inaccurate information provided by public information officers (PIOs)
which is at a highly alarming level in
Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh i.e., respectively 91% and 96%.8 Dilution of law, after RTI Act (amendment) act 2019,
in which section 13 and section 169 have been amended which empowers the central government
to prescribe salary, allowances, and other
term and service conditions of the information commissioner both at the
central level as well as state level. RTI Act amendment empower the central
government with excessive power of delegated legislation and hampered the
federal structure of the RTI Act. By taking such a step the central government
has attacked the very fundamental institution which is responsible for ensuring
that people can exercise their right to information without any fear and
threat.
Government official
barely faces any punishment or penalty for violating the law by denying
applicants to access legitimate information. Such type of behaviour discourages
the basic framework of incentives and disincentives built into the RTI Act.
Constraints while filing of RTI application under section 27(1) and 28 which
specific that states for adequate and appropriate rule and regulation for maintaining
RTI application i.e., user guide who will guide the applicants whoever wants
information in a reasonable time. Another problem with the act is that RTI
application forms are like standard forms which are available only to a few
states.
The basic benefits of the standard form are that it will help to find the basic
knowledge about the information seeker such as address and contract number
which also help the public authorities to contact an applicant for
communication required under section 7(3). Inconvenient Means of receiving applications
i.e., the application should be written in either language Hindi and English or
any other official language of the area where the application will apply and in
written or through electronic means. But not that much initiative or encouragement was taken by the government for
the mode of applying application in
electronics mode such as through email or websites etc which could be
done by the government under section
26(3c) Fail to provide information within 30 days, Presently the existed process of information availability
and management is inadequate and in 50% of cases, the information provided by the public
Information officers took more than the reasonable criteria i.e., more than 30 days to receive
responses such type of experiences discourages the common peoples to file an RTI.
CONCLUSION
India is
counted as one of the countries that enacted and follow the best information
legislation in the world. In India, every year 4-6 million peoples fill out RTI
applications to seek information from the government. As a result of this provision
enforcement, a very large number of people file RTI for basic information like
their pension, rations, and necessities like things, which are concluded as
basic rights of a common people to live peacefully, but these are all denied to
them due to corruption. When the general public access information, they expose
corruption, and they are accountable to their government. RTI act is mainly not
used for only basic things, this is also to use a higher level like people can
seek information about legislation, administration and judiciary accountable.
RTI Act plays a vital role in a democratic country like India which has a mass
population and diversified culture, people with different beliefs and customs,
where people work together for the development, which leads to confidence in
law and strengthen democracy to administrate, this will only happen when the three
more openness towards people about their government step and reactions, these
things will administrate justice and
constitution guarantees to the people. The separation of power which a subject
matter of the government which highlights the independency of this act
flourishing the country's roots in diversity and which is a tool for a
democratic country to maintain check and balance. If the government centralizes
the power in itself, then it could be its to decline of democratic pillars of
the country. Try to be more open, the government should be more transparent
towards their citizens, like if the people want to seek information about anything
the public authorities should put all the information on their department
internet sites, so the applicants get the information whatever they want. This
will also reduce the burden of the PIOs and public departments to provide
information which takes their valuable time, and it will also help the
information seeker get information in meantime without any wait within the
prescribed time. The government needs to prevent the misuse of the RTI Act, this
can only happen when the government with some legislation like to get the
reason behind for filing of RTI act and if the information seeker demanded unnecessary
information which is not in the public interest, there should be a provision which
the person has to pay penalty for wasting the precious time of information
commissioner. Government should come up with initiatives like awareness
campaigns for the citizens to know about their rights and the RTI act 2005
awareness, and its uses make people generous to participate in such acts and
use their power, mainly in rural areas in different local languages. For these
purposes, the centre and state commission provided sufficient funds for
awareness campaigns. By taking these types of move only peoples can use it
properly as per their convenience.
Article Information
ROLE OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
Authors: AJIT BAPU KHAMKAR
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2023/11/23
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
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