[Reader-list] Great FAQ on RTI

[Yogesh Girdhar]

Fond this great FAQ on RTI.
http://www.ndtv.com/rti/faqs.asp

-yogi

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What is Right to Information

What is RTI?

RTI stands for Right to Information. Right to Information is a part of
fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution. Article 19
(1) says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. As
early as in 1976, the Supreme Court said in the case of Raj Narain vs
State of UP, that people cannot speak or express themselves unless
they know. Therefore, right to information is embedded in article 19.
In the same case, Supreme Court further said that India is a
democracy. People are the masters. Therefore, the masters have a right
to know how the governments, meant to serve them, are functioning.
Further, every citizen pays taxes. Even a beggar on the street pays
tax (in the form of sales tax, excise duty etc) when he buys a piece
of soap from the market. The citizens therefore, have a right to know
how their money was being spent. These three principles were laid down
by the Supreme Court while saying that RTI is a part of our
fundamental rights.

If RTI is a fundamental right, then why do we need an Act to give us this right?

This is because if you went to any Government Department and told the
officer there, "RTI is my fundamental right, and that I am the master
of this country. Therefore, please show me all your files", he would
not do that. In all probability, he would throw you out of his room.
Therefore, we need a machinery or a process through which we can
exercise this fundamental right. Right to Information Act 2005, which
became effective on 13th October 2005, provides that machinery.
Therefore, Right to Information Act does not give us any new right. It
simply lays down the process on how to apply for information, where to
apply, how much fees etc.

When did RTI Act come into force?

The Central Right to Information Act came into force on the 12th
October, 2005. However, before that 9 state Governments had passed
state Acts. These were J & K, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Assam & Goa.

What rights are available under RTI Act 2005?

Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to

q       Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information

q       Take copies of any government documents

q       Inspect any government documents.

q       Inspect any Government works

q       Take samples of materials of any Government work.

Who is covered under RTI?

The Central RTI Act extends to the whole of India except the State of
Jammu and Kashmir. All bodies, which are constituted under the
Constitution or under any law or under any Government notification or
all bodies, including NGOs, which are owned, controlled or
substantially financed by the Government are covered.

What is "substantially financed"?

This is neither defined under RTI Act nor under any other Act. So,
this issue will evolve with time, maybe through some court orders etc.

Are Private bodies covered under the RTI Act?

All private bodies, which are owned, controlled or substantially
financed by the Government are directly covered. Others are indirectly
covered. That is, if a government department can access information
from any private body under any other Act, the same can be accessed by
the citizen under the RTI Act through that government department.

Isn't Official Secrets Act 1923 an obstacle to the implementation of RTI Act?

No. Sec 22 of the RTI Act 2005 clearly says that RTI Act would over
ride all existing Acts including Officials Secrets Act.

Can the PIO refuse to give me information?

A PIO can refuse information on 11 subjects that are listed in section
8 of the RTI Act. These include information received in confidence
from foreign governments, information prejudicial to security,
strategic, scientific or economic interests of the country, breach of
privilege of legislatures, etc.

There is a list of 18 agencies given in second schedule of the Act to
which RTI Act does not apply. However, they also have to give
information if it relates to matters pertaining to allegations of
corruption or human rights violations.

Does the Act provide for partial disclosure?

Yes. Under Section 10 of the RTI Act, access may be provided to that
part of the record which does not contain information which is exempt
from disclosure under this Act.

Can access be denied to file notings?

No. File notings are an integral part of the government file and are
subject to disclosure under the Act. This has been clarified by the
Central Information Commission in one of its orders on 31st Jan 2006.



How to use Right to Information

How do I locate the full Act?

The full Act in Hindi and English is available on the website of
Department of Personnel and Training www.persmin.nic.in. It is also
available on this website.

Who will give me information?

One or more existing officers in every Government Department have been
designated as Public Information Officers (PIO). These PIOs act like
nodal officers. You have to file your applications with them. They are
responsible for collecting information sought by you from various
wings of that Department and providing that information to you. In
addition, several officers have been appointed as Assistant Public
Information Officers (APIOs). Their job is only to accept applications
from the public and forward it to the right PIO.



Where do I submit application?



You can do that with the PIO or with APIO. In the case of all Central
Government Departments, 629 post offices have been designated as
APIOs. This means that you can go to any of these post offices and
submit your fee and application at the RTI counter in these post
offices. They will issue you a receipt and acknowledgement and it is
the responsibility of that post office to deliver it to the right PIO.
The list of these post offices is given at
http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rtimanual16a.html



Is there any fee? How do I deposit that?



Yes, there is an application fee. For Central Government Departments,
it is Rs 10. However, different states have prescribed different fee.
For details see rules framed by the states on this website. For
getting information, you have to pay Rs 2 per page of information
provided for Central Government Departments. It is different for
different states. Similarly, there is a fee for inspection of
documents. There is no fee for first hour of inspection, but after
that, you have to pay Rs. 5 for every subsequent hour or fraction
thereof. This is according to Central Rules. For each state, see
respective state rules. You can deposit fee wither in cash or through
a DD or bankers cheque or postal order drawn in favor of that public
authority. In some states, you can buy court fee stamps and affix it
on your application. This would be treated as if you have deposited
the fee. You can then deposit your application either by post or by
hand.



What should I do if the PIO or the concerned Department does not
accept my application?



You can send it by post. You should also make a formal complaint to
the respective Information Commission under section 18. The
Information Commissioner has the power to impose a penalty of Rs 25000
on the concerned officer who refused to accept your application.



Is there an application form for seeking information?



For Central Government Departments, there is no form. You should apply
on a plain sheet of paper like an ordinary application. However, many
states and some ministries and departments have prescribed formats.
You should apply in these formats. Please read rules of respective
states to know



How can I apply for information?

Draft your application on a normal sheet of paper and submit it by
post or in person to the Public Information Officer (PIO). [Remember
to keep a copy of the application for your personal reference]

How can I deposit my application fee?

Every state has a different mode of payment for application fee.
Generally, you can deposit your application fee via:

   * In person by paying cash [remember to take your receipt]
   * By Post through:
   *
     Demand Draft
   *
     Indian Postal Order
   *
     Money orders (only in some states)
   *
     Affixing Court fee Stamp (only in some states)
   *
     Banker's cheque
   * Some state governments have prescribed some head of account. You
are required to deposit fee in that account. For that, you can either
go to any branch of SBI and despoist cash in that account and attach
deposit receipt with your RTI application. Or you can also send a
postal order or a DD drawn in favour of that account alongwith your
RTI application.

Please see respective state rules for complete details.

Can I submit my application only with the PIO?

No, in case the PIO is not available you can submit your application
with the Assistant PIO or any other officer designated to accept the
RTI applications.

Where can I locate the concerned PIO?

A list of PIOs/APIOs and Appellate Authorities for all Central and
State departments/Ministries is available online at www.rti.gov.in

What if I can not locate my PIO or APIO?

In case you have problems locating your PIO/APIO you can address your
RTI application to the PIO C/o Head of Department and send it to the
concerned public authority with the requisite application fee. The
Head of Department will have to forward your application to the
concerned PIO.

Do I have to personally go to deposit my application?

Depending on your state rules for mode of payment you can deposit your
application for information from the concerned departments of your
state government via post by attaching a DD, Money Order, Postal Order
or affixing Court fee Stamp

For all Central government departments the Department of Posts has
designated 629 postal offices at the national level. The designated
officers in these post offices work as Assistant PIOs and collect the
application to forward to the concerned PIO. A list is available on
http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rticontents.html

Is there a time limit to receiving information?

Yes. If you file your application with the PIO, you must receive
information within 30 days.

In case you have filed your application with Assistant PIO then
information has to be made available within 35 days.

In case the matter to which the information pertains affects the life
and liberty of an individual, information has to be made available in
48 hours.

Do I have to give reasons why I want a particular information?

Absolutely not! You are not required to give any reasons or additional
information other than your contact details (i.e., Name, Address, and
Phone No.). Sec 6(2) clearly says that no information other than
contact details of the applicant shall be asked.

Can the PIO refuse to accept my RTI application?

No. The PIO can not refuse to accept your application for information
under any circumstances. Even if the information does not pertain to
his/her department/jurisdiction, s/he has to accept it. If the
application does not pertain to that PIO, he would have to transfer it
to the right PIO within 5 days under sec 6(2).

Why is it that RTI works when no other law has worked



There have been many good laws in this country but none of those laws
worked. Why do you think this law would work?



This law is already working. This is because for the first time in the
history of independent India, there is a law which casts a direct
accountability on the officer for non-performance. If concerned
officer does not provide information in time, a penalty of Rs 250 per
day of delay can be imposed by the Information Commissioner. If the
information provided is false, a penalty of a maximum of Rs 25000 can
be imposed. A penalty can also be imposed for providing incomplete or
for rejecting your application for malafide reasons. This fine is
deducted from the officer's personal salary.





Has any penalty been imposed so far?



Yes, some officers have been penalized by the Central as well as State
Information Commissioners.





Does the Applicant get the amount fined to the PIO?



No. The amount fined is deposited in the government treasury. However,
under sec 19, the applicant can seek compensation.

What should I do if I do not receive satisfactory information

What can I do if I do not receive information?

If you do not receive information or are dissatisfied with the
information received, you can file an appeal with the first appellate
authority under section 19 (1) of the right to Information Act.

Who is a First Appellate authority?

Every public authority must designate a First Appellate Authority.
This officer designated is the officer senior in rank to your PIO.

Is there a form for the first appeal?

No there is no form for filing a first appeal (but some state
governments have prescribed a form). Draft your appeal application on
a blank sheet of paper addressed to the First Appellate Authority.
Remember to attach a copy of your original application and a copy of
the reply in whatever form (if received) from the PIO.

Do I have to pay a fee for the first appeal?

No. You are not required to pay any fee for the first appeal. However,
some state governments have prescribed a fee.

In how many days can I file my first appeal?

You can file your first appeal within 30 days of receipt of
information or within 60 days of filing RTI application (if no
information received).

What if I do not receive the information after the first appeal process?

If you do not receive information even after the first appeal then you
can take the matter forward to the second appeal stage.

What is a second appeal?

A second appeal is the last option under the RTI Act to get the
information requested. You can file second appeal with the Information
Commission. For appeals against Central Government Departments, you
have Central Information Commission (CIC). For every state Government,
there is a State Information Commission.

Is there a form for the second appeal?

No there is no form for filing a second appeal (but some state
governments have prescribed a form for second appeal too). Draft your
appeal application on a normal sheet of paper addressed to the Central
or State Information Commission. Carefully read the appeal rules
before drafting your second appeal. Your second appeal application can
be rejected if it does not comply with the appeal rules.

Do I have to pay a fee for the second appeal?

No. You are not required to pay any fee for the second appeal.
However, some states have prescribed a fee for that.

In how many days can I file my second appeal?

You can file your second appeal within 90 days of disposal of first
appeal or within 90 days of the date, by when first appeal was to be
decided.

How does this law help me in getting my work done

How does this law work so effectively for pending works i.e. why is it
that the government officials end up doing your work which they were
not doing earlier?

Let us take the case of Nannu. He was not being given his ration card.
But when he applied under RTI, he was given a card within a week. What
did Nannu ask? He asked the following questions:

  1. I filed an application for a duplicate ration card on 27th
January 2004. Please tell me the daily progress made on my application
so far. i.e. when did my application reach which officer, for how long
did it stay with that officer and what did he/she do during that
period?
  2. According to the rules, my card should have been made in 10
days. However, it is more than three months now. Please give the names
and designations of the officials who were supposed to take action on
my application and who have not done so?
  3. What action would be taken against these officials for not doing
their work and for causing harassment to the public? By when would
that action be taken?
  4. By when would I get my card now?

In normal circumstances, such an application would be thrown in a
dustbin. But this law says that the Government has to reply in 30
days. If they don't do that, their salary could be deducted. Now, it
is not easy to answer these questions.

The first question is – please provide the daily progress made on my
application.

There is no progress made. But the government officials cannot write
in these many words that they have not acted for so many months. Else
that would be admission of guilt on paper.

The next question is – please provide the names and designations of
the officers who were supposed to take action on my application and
who had not done so

If the government provides names and designations of the officials,
their responsibility gets fixed. Any officer is most scared of fixing
of responsibility against him in this manner. So, the moment one files
such an application, his/her pending work is done.

What should I do after getting information?

There cannot be one answer for that. It depends on why you asked for
that information and what type of information is it. Often a lot of
things start falling in place just by asking for information. For
instance, you would get your passport or a ration card just by your
asking for the status of your application. In many cases, roads got
repaired as soon as the money spent on its repairs in the last few
repairs was asked. So, seeking information and questioning the
government is an important step, which in itself is complete in many
cases.

But suppose you expose some corruption or wrongdoing using RTI. Then,
you can complain to vigilance agencies, CBI or even file an FIR. But
it is seen that the Government does not take any action against the
guilty even after repeated complaints. Though one can keep up the
pressure on vigilance agencies by seeking to know the status of
complaints under RTI, however, the wrongdoings can also be exposed
through media. However, experience has not been very encouraging at
getting guilty punished. But one thing is certain. Seeking information
like this and exposing wrongdoings does improve the future. The
officials get a clear message that the people of that area have become
alert and any wrongdoings in future would not remain hidden as they
were in the past. So, their risks of getting caught increase.

Won't I be victimized if I used RTI

Have people been victimized who used RTI and exposed corruption?

Yes, there have been some instances where people were physically
harmed when they sought information which exposed large scale
corruption. But this does not mean that ever applicant faces such a
threat. Filing application to seek status of your grievance or for
knowing other similar routine matters does not invite any retaliation.
It is only when information is likely to expose
bureaucratic-contractor nexus or any kind of mafia that there could be
a possibility of retaliation.

Then why should I use RTI?

The entire system has become so rotten that if all of us individually
and together do not do our bit, it will never improve. If we don't do
it, who will? Therefore, we have to act. But we should do that with a
strategy and minimize risks. And with experience, there are some
safeguards and strategies available.

What are these strategies?

Please go ahead and file RTI application for any issue in the first
instance. Normally, anyone would not attack you immediately. They
would first try to cajole you or win you over. So, the moment you file
any inconvenient application, someone would approach you very politely
to request you to withdraw that application. You should gauge the
seriousness or the potential of the person approaching you. If you
consider it to be serious enough, ask 15 of your friends to
immediately apply to the same public authority asking for same
information. It would be better if these 15 friends were from
different part of India. Now, it would be most difficult for anyone to
target all of your 15 friends all across the country. And if they
threaten anyone from amongst the 15, let more people file similar
applications. Your friends from other parts of India can file their
applications by post. Try and give it wide media publicity. This will
ensure that you will get the requisite information, and you would have
sufficiently minimized risks.

Bureaucracy's fears

Can't people blackmail government servants by obtaining information?

Let us ask ourselves – what does RTI do? It just brings truth in
public domain. It does not create any information. It just removes
curtains and brings truth in public domain. Is that bad? When can it
be misused? Only if an officer has done something wrong and if that
information comes out in public. Is it bad that wrongdoings within the
Government should become public and be exposed rather than keeping it
under wraps. Yes, once such information is obtained by someone, he
could go and blackmail that officer. But why do we wish to protect
wrong officers. If any officer is blackmailed, he/she has options
available under Indian Penal Code to go register an FIR against a
blackmailer. Let that officer do that.  However, we can even avoid the
possibility of any individual officer from being blackmailed by any
individual complainant by putting all information, sought by any
applicant, on the website. An applicant is able to blackmail an
officer only when that applicant is the only person who obtained that
information and threatens to make that public. But if all information
sought by him were to be put on website, the possibility of blackmail
would be substantially reduced.

Won't Government get flooded with RTI applications and won't it jam
government machinery?

These fears are hypothetical. There are more than 65 countries in the
world, which have RTI laws. There are nine states in India, who had
RTI laws, before this law was passed by the Parliament. None of these
Governments were flooded with applications. Such fear emanates from an
assumption that the people do not have anything to do and are totally
free. Filing an RTI application and pursuing it takes time, energies
and resources. Unless a person really wants any information, he/she
does not file it.

Let us consider some statistics. In Delhi, 14000 applications have
been filed in 120 departments in more than 60 months. This means less
than 2 applications per Department per month. Can we say that Delhi
Government got flooded with RTI applications? In sharp contrast, US
Government received 3.2 million applications under their RTI Act
during 2003-04. This is despite the fact that unlike India, most of
the Government information is already available on the net and there
should be much less need for the people to file applications. But US
Government is not contemplating scrapping the RTI Ac. On the contrary
they are setting aside more and more resources to implement it. During
the same year, they spent $ 32 million to implement it.

Won't it require huge amount of resources to implement RTI Act?

Any amount of resources required to implement RTI Act would be well
spent. Most countries like the US have realized it and are already
spending huge resources to make their governments transparent.
Firstly, all the cost spent on RTI gets more than recovered the same
year by the amounts of money that the Government saves due to
reduction in corruption and malpractices. For instance, there is
strong evidence to show how leakages in drought relief program in
Rajasthan and Public Distribution System in Delhi substantially
reduced due to extensive use of RTI.

Secondly, RTI is very essential for democracy. It is a part of our
fundamental right. For people to participate in governance, the
pre-requisite is that they first know what is going on. So, just the
way we treat all expenses made on the running of our Parliament as
essential, we have to treat all expenses made in the implementation of
RTI as essential.

But often people file applications to settle personal scores etc?

As written above, RTI simply brings truth in public domain. It does
not create information. Any attempt at hiding truth or putting a cover
over it is not in the best interests of society. Rather than serving
any useful purpose, any attempt at promoting secrecy would only
increase the scope for corruption and wrongdoing. Therefore, our
entire efforts should be to make governance completely transparent.
However, if anyone blackmails someone subsequently, there are ample
provisions under law to address that. Secondly, there are sufficient
safeguards under sec 8 of RTI Act. It states that any information,
which relates to private affairs of any individual and has no public
interest would not be disclosed. Therefore, the existing laws have
sufficient provisions available to address genuine concerns of the
people.

How to avoid people from filing frivolous applications?

THERE IS NO FRIVOLOUS APPLICATION. What is frivolous? My pending water
connection could be the most critical issue for me, but it could be
treated as frivolous by a bureaucrat. Some vested interests within the
bureaucracy have raised this bogey of frivolous applications. Right
now, RTI Act does not permit any application to be rejected on the
ground that it was frivolous. But some section of bureaucracy want the
PIO to be empowered to reject any application if he feels that it was
frivolous. If that happens, every PIO will declare every other
application to be frivolous and reject it. It would mean a death knell
to RTI.

File notings should not be made public as that would prevent honest
officers from rendering honest advice?

This is wrong. On the contrary, every officer would now know that
whatever he writes on the file would be subject to public scrutiny.
This would force him to write things which are in best public
interest. Some honest bureaucrats have admitted in private that RTI
has helped them immensely in warding off political and other undue
influences. Now, the officers simply say that if they did the wrong
thing, they might get exposed if someone asked for that information.
Therefore, officers have started insisting that the seniors gave
directions in writing. The Government is learnt to be contemplating
removing file notings from the purview of RTI Act. For the above
reasons, it is absolutely essential that file notings should be
allowed to be covered under RTI Act.

Civil servant has to make decisions under many pressures and the
public will not understand this?

As discussed above, on the contrary, possibility of exposures to
illegitimate pressures would reduce.

Government records are not in proper shape. How could RTI be implemented?

RTI would force the system to start maintaining records properly now.
Else the officials would face a penalty under the Act

Applications seeking voluminous information should be rejected?

If I seek for some information, which runs into a lakh of pages, I
would do that only if I need it because I will have to pay Rs 2 lakhs
for that.This is an automatic deterrent. If application were rejected
only on this account, the applicant could break his application and
file 1000 applications seeking 100 pages through each application,
which would not benefit anyone. Therefore, applications should not be
rejected only on this pretext.

People should be allowed to seek information only about themselves.
They should not be allowed to ask questions about other spheres of
governance, totally unrelated to the.

Sec 6(2) of RTI Act clearly says an applicant cannot be questioned why
he/she were asking for any information. In any case, RTI flows from
the fact that people pay taxes, This money belongs to them and
therefore, they have a right to know how their money were being spent
and how they were being governed. So, people have a right to know
everything about every sphere of governance. They may or may not be
directly related to the matter. So, even a person living in Delhi can
ask for any information from say, Tamil Nadu.