Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde raised concerns over the “misuse” of the Right to Information (RTI) Act while hearing a plea — along with Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant — filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj on the non-appointment of Information Commissioners (ICs) by the Central government.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, on the delay in appointment of ICs said, “ (it’s) a clear attempt to frustrate the working of the RTI Act,” quoted in The Indian Express.
The three-judge bench asked the Centre to fill the vacancies within three months. It also directed the government to upload the name of the members of the Search Committee of ICs on the official website within two weeks.
However, CJI Bobde, on the rampant use of RTIs, observed, “There are paralysis and fear about this Act. People (govt. officials) are not taking decisions.”
Bhushan responded by saying that only those officials fear who are corrupt.
CJI Bobde responded, “Everybody is not doing wrong.”
“When I was in Mumbai, a government official said the Mantralaya is almost paralysed because of the kind of RTI requests made… Have you seen the kind of people seeking information. Anybody can ask. People describe themselves as RTI activists. Is that an occupation?” Chief Justice Bobde asked the petitioner, quoted in The Hindu.
“People who have no concern with a subject are filing RTIs to seek information…locus has no significance,” said CJI Bobde
He further emphasized the need to frame guidelines and add “filters” for the efficient implementation of the act. “We are not against information and right to information (but there was) a need to evolve some kind of guidelines,” quoted in The Indian Express.
Prashant Bhushan disagreed with the bench and professed that any kind of filter will discourage genuine information seekers.
To which, CJI responded by saying, “You are speaking of bonafide situations…There have been innumerable cases of blackmail, extortion. We want to address that.”
The Right to Information Act, 2005 was recently amended in July after RTI Amendment Act was passed by the parliament. The amended act removed the five years fixed tenure of the Chief Election Commissioner (CIC) and the Information Commissioners (IC) and allowed the government to determine their tenure. The amendment further allows the government to fix the salaries of CIC and ICs, which were earlier benchmarked with the salaries of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
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