Information commissions should be like EC: Aruna Roy

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Pallavi Polanki Interview Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dau and Inayat.

Amid doomsday predictions about India's transparency movement, social activist Aruna Roy, an instrumental force behind the Right To Information Act, is fiercely optimistic about its future. Excerpts from a joint interview with Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Inayat Sabhikhi, activists working with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and National Campaign for People's Right to Information.

 

Q:Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi has said that the RTI will be irrelevant in five years. Do you share his apprehension?

 

A:There have been threats to the RTI and people predicting its demise since it was born! No one believed that a country like India, with a notoriously opaque and inaccessible bureaucracy would ever implement a strong legislation like the Right to Information. After it came into effect, no one believed it would work. Its reach and sheer dynamism is truly remarkable, and all of us who worked on the campaign and the legislation, (including Mr. Shailesh Gandhi) should take a moment to acknowledge and recognise the full implications of the change that has taken place. The RTI Act has in fact been protected by citizens across the board like no other legislation so far has been. The campaign certainly needs to keep up pressure to ensure that the law is implemented correctly. However, the fact that some powerful politicians and bureaucrats are so keen to amend and change the law and drive it to the ground, is just one indication of what a formidable force it is and how well it is working to challenge power equations everywhere.

 

 

 

Q:What is your assessment of how information commissions are functioning today? And what needs to be done to fix the problems?

 

A: The first problem is the process of appointments. We still have not been able to institutionalise an effective system for appointment of independent commissioners. The Information commissioners appointed so far have overwhelmingly been former bureaucrats.  Though some of them have re-invented themselves, the majority would still carry former mindsets. Those who have been the custodians of information in an era of the official secrets Act are going to require an extra ordinary change of thought process to become effective information commissioners. The intention of the Act was that people of eminence, from different disciplines and professions should be appointed commissioners, including members from civil society, academia, journalists, lawyers, judges, scientists etc. This is to ensure that the commission benefits from the expertise available in society, and makes governance in India a truly open process.

 

It is not surprising therefore, that there is a huge problem of growing pendency. The Commission was made powerful, not for personal perks, red lights on cars and status; but for ensuring that this would become a powerful commission that could act on behalf of the peoples' interest. They also should play a role in protecting whistleblowers and those who seek information. The information commissions need to redefine themselves the way the Election Commission did. They should realise that no other commission has the power to impose penalties like the information commission does.

The biggest failure of the commissions has been their failure to forge alliances with progressive groups and take on their unwritten but responsibility to be proactive and assertive in favour of transparency. Today, even their own proactive disclosures are weak, and the attempt by Shailesh Gandhi for the commission to have a citizens charter against which  it can be held to account, has failed to materialise.

The situation is even worse in some of the State Information Commissions. Information Commissions are overburdened, understaffed, not given adequate infrastructure to function and their decisions and rulings are being disregarded. It is extremely important that this independent appellate mechanism be allowed/ encouraged/ persuaded to function and operate in the way that it was intended to. Finally, it is not as if the commissions have not performed at all, or not played a useful role so far. There have been many progressive rulings at the Centre and the states which have opened up closed domains of information. However, there have also been many progressive and landmark rulings which have not been implemented properly, or have been stayed in the courts.

 

 

 

Q:What is the biggest threat to the effective implementation of the RTI Act today?

 

A:The biggest threat to the effective implementation of the RTI is the bureaucracy itself and the arbitrary amendments that are being made to it through rules by various public authorities, and through rules and rulings of certain courts to limit its scope. As, Shailesh Gandhi points out, the threats come from all wings of government as well as inefficiencies, pendency and malfunctioning of  some of the Information Commissions. The Chhattisgarh State Assembly for instance has passed an order to increase the RTI application fees to Rs. 500. In Maharashtra, the current Chief Minister has approved the notification of rules that would limit the word count and subject matter of questions that can be asked. Ironically, as Union Minister for Personnel, he agreed to withdraw the same proposed rules in the Central Government. Eternal vigilance is exhausting, but alas necessary! Pessimism comes from expectations that legislations once passed will work magic. Like anything else they need persistence and continual attention.

 

 

 

Q:What are some of the other factors that are threatening RTI?

 

A: The right to access information is revolutionary and has definitely changed power equations because it has transferred the ownership and control of information from the government and agents of the state, to the people. The effect the Right to Information has had in shaking these power structures can be seen by the unfortunate number of attacks on RTI users and activists, as well as regular attempts being made to curb the Act or bypass it. To fight against this, it is imperative that a strong network be created between RTI users, activists, and others who understand the importance of this right across states, who can come together to protect the Act.

 

What we are witnessing in India today is a period of transition when a culture of secrecy is being challenged and we have not yet accepted or shaped a culture of openness.

 

Q:Is it getting more and more difficult to get information out of the government?

A: Because of its revolutionary nature, all manner of tactics will be used to deny information where it must be delivered. There has been opposition to disclosing information of the government from the beginning and in certain cases it is getting worse.

There have also been attempts by government to subvert provisions like section 24 of the Act by placing agencies under blanket exemption under the guise of them being intelligence and security agencies. The placing of the CBI under this exemption by the Central Government is the most glaring example. That too, at a time when the country was demanding independent investigation against corruption, and the central government was claiming credibility for CBI investigations. In other cases like biotechnology, and the nuclear regulatory bill the government is attempting to amend the RTI Act through the backdoor of other legislations. It is regrettable that neither the State Governments, nor the Central Government have seen this as a law that can transform governance even from the point of view of efficiency of the administrator.

 

 

 

Q:What are the positive trends that you see in the RTI movement in India today?

A: There are many positive trends in the RTI today which is what gives us all the energy and sustenance to keep fighting for this legislation and its effective use. In spite of all its shortcomings and attacks from all around, it is being used creatively and effectively across the country. The RTI Act is no longer supported by RTI activists alone.

I went to Manipur a couple of months back where I met the RTI groups and young widows (called "gun widows"), with an average age of 25. I was shocked by the plight of the young women, who cannot access any benefits under any social welfare department scheme because their families have been branded as insurgent. Even so they have been using the RTI to access documents related to the alleged encounters of their husbands and their pension. I was in Kashmir recently and met Basheer who filed an RTI asking how often the Chief Minister of the state used his official helicopter, on what occasions, and at what cost. After the hue and cry about the many inexplicable trips the CM was found travelling by road and tweeting about the RTI effect. 

People are using it to ask tough questions on governance and the use of our public funds. Even the question by Subhash Chandra Agrawal on the Planning Commission toilets needs to be understood as one that allowed us to debate many things including the costs of the toilets, the open access to toilets where a smart card restricts access, the cost of toilets for the poor and the need for proactive disclosure of every paisa of government expenditure.

 

The Act is being used on issues related to day to day administration, it is being used in rural and urban areas. It is part of the methods used by social movements now to access documents, from the demand to know about land deals like the Adarsh scam to the Kudankulam protestors, to those fighting the land and mining mafias. It is a galvanising force that has acquired a momentum that none of us saw coming, and which is going to be impossible to stop.

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