Should we say ‘Happy 18th Birthday’ to the Right To Information Act (RTI)? Yes, from the citizens’ viewpoint as, despite the opaqueness shown by all public authorities (PA), despite pending second appeals in information commissions across the country and despite the government having further diluted its strength, the enthusiasm of the citizenry to use this sunshine law—to the tune of 53 lakh -55 lakh applications per year—is encouraging.
At the end of Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 movie Troy, the narrator says, “If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these.
The high-profile Vande Bharat trains, that have been introduced by the government with much fanfare across the country and have come under controversy for derailing timetables of some of the regular and Shatabdi trains, besides allegedly not being superfast as was projected, seem to be running on an expenditure that is not officially recorded.
Until recently, the trend of information commissioners to protect public information officers (PIOs) sympathising their workload on right to information (RTI) replies, has been largely replaced by directing them to abide by proactive disclosures under section 4 of the RTI Act and also urging them to provide such info in the FAQ format on their respective public authority’s website.
Last week, Moneylife carried an article on how the Chief Justice of India, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court, has directed all state information commissioners (SICs) and central information commissioners (CICs) to be proactive in ensuring that public authorities abide by section 4 disclosures as mandated under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.