Is the Right to Information Act Being Misused to Harass Businesses? Let's Share Our Experiences

RTI - Right To Information Act was enacted by the government to help the common man know anything in which he is concerned. It makes the government functioning transparent. It is, of course, a boon to the citizens.

Alas, the way in which the authority and right through this Act is taken advantage and the ulterior motive of many unholy elements make this Act a bane and detrimental for many, especially industrial and business establishments.

Persons who are submitting applications under this Act to the government are on the rise - not to know what is happening in the government but to harass someone they hate or have a problem with. So far, 59 RTI applications were made seeking information concerning our company. The information asked for is 'how a license for certain activity was given', how a permit was given to have a certain facility', and so on. Many of the licenses were originally given to us more than four decades back. The irony is that those in the government do not like to take out the records; many of them are either lost or misplaced, with them pressurizing the industry to avoid any such applications from people and "advising" us to deal with them at any "cost".

The cost is giving employment, giving donations, providing basic amenities, and so on. What we cannot give/provide is tried through RTI - how clever are people in taking undue advantage of any facility or right given to them by the government!

I hope many of my friends in citeHR who are occupying high posts in HR, Administration, and Public Relations must also be experiencing the same type of problem in their organization. I want them to share with this writer their experience in tackling such problem makers.

Now the government is thinking of amending this Act to avoid such misuse by the miscreants for obnoxious motives. I don't know whether it will take a final shape and be enacted to help the industries.

Let us wait and see.

Regards,

R. Ganesh

Dear Ganesh,

I agree with you. In fact, elements with ulterior motives are making the best use of the Act, rather than the people who really need it. Unfortunately, this again brings up the same "two-sides-of-a-coin" argument. For every good initiative, one will always find people bent on misusing it. We need to change the "thinking" of such individuals. Can all of us share some responsibilities for it and do 'something' about it; or should we just shrug our shoulders and say 'it is not our problem'?

Warm regards.

Dear Ganesh,

Thank you for raising the issue. I am sure that, like me, there are many people who are not aware of the workings of this Act. I appreciate your concern for the public interest. I believe we can take the following steps:

1. Compile the Act or at least the gist of the acts in a PowerPoint or Word format.
2. Invite all the individuals who have been helped or faced problems due to this Act.
3. Identify where amendments are required and suggest better ways for the Act to function.
4. Engage more people to participate in this public litigation and encourage them to voice their support for amending the Act.
5. File a public litigation or public interest suit in court.

If we invest enough time and patience, we can bring about a positive change!

Regards,
K. Ramachandra
Bangalore

Under the RTI Act, one can ask for information only. One cannot ask how a license was given. He can ask for a copy of the license. He can ask for rules or policies regarding the grant of the license. Copies of such documents can easily be given by the public authority (PA) concerned. Just in case they don't have it for any reason and you have it, you can give it to them so that they discharge their obligations under the Act. I cannot imagine a situation where one has asked simply 'how the license is given to company X?' The Public Information Officer (PIO) of the PA can simply reply that it is not information as defined in the Act.

Section 2(f) of the Act defines 'information' as follows:

(f) "information" means any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;

Further 'record' is also defined as follows in the Act:

(i) "record" includes—

(a) any document, manuscript, and file;

(b) any microfilm, microfiche, and facsimile copy of a document;

(c) any reproduction of image or images embodied in such microfilm (whether enlarged or not); and

(d) any other material produced by a computer or any other device;

A PIO who knows his job will not find any difficulty in dealing with such queries.

My dear Mr.Pugazhendhi,
Thanks for your detailed mail furnishing certain details about the Act. In most of the cases, the authority concerned would approach us to furnish with the details instead of searching at their end, which we promptly provide so as to help the authrity help us in turn.
However, when you happend to see the applications filed by these miscreants how wantonly they infuriate the authority concerned and the company. The Govt.autority hesitating to go into the details insist us to pacify the applicant by all means.
We are very much suffering sir. Something should be done at some time to silence these unholy elements. Atleast the fee should be raised from Rs.10/- multifold.
Regards.
R.Ganesh

Dear Mr. Ganesh,

Your doubts are unfounded, probably owing to the lack of knowledge of the RTI Act 2005. Only a Public Authority has been brought under the purview of the RTI Act 2005. The definition of the Public Authority is given in Section 2(h) of the act, and its abstract is reproduced below:

Any Private entity which is:
(i) not owned, controlled, or substantially financed by the appropriate Government;
(ii) non-Government organization which is not substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government;

are not covered under the Act. So you can deny the request for information, even to the government on a request under the RTI Act.

However, the information submitted by you to the Government or any Public Authority, under statutory compliance, is not covered. Such information supplied by you and held by the Government or any Public Authority can be supplied by the Government or any Public Authority to the applicant under the RTI Act.

The information regarding commercial disclosures (such as sales Tax Returns) and trade copyrights, patents, etc. cannot be disclosed by the government.

Certain types of information are treated as information in "Larger Public Interest" and can be disclosed. In such a case, the information is treated as "Third Party Information," and a Notice is given to the Third Party for the intention of the Public Information Officer to disclose the information held by him. The Third Party can agree/disagree to part with the information.

There are provisions for appeals too.

Thank you, Mr. Surendra, for your valuable input. I will take a printout of the inputs given by my friends and discuss them with our Legal Department and Senior VP. Something should be done to avoid further nuisance by disgruntled elements.

Regards,
Ganesh