Right To Information

RIGHT TO INFORMATION

The Right to Information Act  (RTI) is an Act

of the parliament of India. It is the

implementation of freedom of information

 in India on a national level "to provide for

setting out the practical regime of right to

information for citizens." The Act applies to

all States and Union Territories of India,

except the State of Jammu and Kashmir -

which is covered under a State-level law.

53% of public authorities do not share any information at all.

37% departments published about subsidies and beneficiaries.

Only 23% listed the projects they undertake.

Certain facts

Promote Transparency of Information

Promote openness in administration

Empowerment of Citizens.

Democracy requires an informed citizen

Preservation of confidentiality of sensitive Information.

Need For RTI Act?

RTI ACT--- Important sections

Section 2(j) a right to (i) inspection of work, documents, records, (ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records,(iii) taking separate samples of material, (iv) obtaining information in the form of Disk, floppies, video cassettes.

Section 4 duty of public authorities to maintain records for easy access and to publish within 120 days the name of the officers who should give information.

Section 6(2) talks that an applicant cannot be questioned why he is asking for information.

• Sec. 7 request to be disposed of within 30 days provided that where information sought for concerns the life or liberty of a person, the same shall be provided within 48 hours.

• A request rejected shall be communicated under sec. 7(8) giving reasons and specifying the procedure for appeal and the designation of the appellate authority.

• Sec. 8 exempts from disclosure certain information and contents.

• Sec. 20 provides penalties for non-furnishing information as required by the Act in a sum of Rs.250/- per day.

• Sec. 23 bars all courts from entertaining any suit, application or other proceeding in respect of any order made under the Act and every order under the Act should be first appealed against.

Public authorities to designate Public Information

Authorities and Assistant Public Information Officers

within 100 days of the enactment.

Application for seeking information is to be made

to an officer of the Public Authority who is State

Public Information Officer. He is responsible to deal

with requests of information/assist persons seeking

information.

SALIENT FEATURES

“Not with standing anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, –

information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the

State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;

information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court ;

information disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature ;

information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third

party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information ;

information received in confidence from foreign Government ;

information, disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in

confidence for law enforcement or security purposes ;

information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders ;

Restrictions Imposed by the Act

The intelligence and security organizations established by the Central Government notunder the perview of the Act

1. Intelligence Bureau2. Research and Analysis wing of the Cabinet Secretariat3. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence 4. Central Economic Intelligence Bureau5. Directorate of Enforcement6. Narcotics Control Bureau7. Aviation Research Centre8. Special Frontier Force9. Border Security Force10. Central Reserve Police Force11. Indo-Tibetan Border Police12. Central Industrial Security Force13. National Security Guards14. Assam Rifles15. Sasastra Seema Bal16. CID Special Branch, Andaman and Nicober17. The Crime Branch – CID – CB, Dadra and Nagar Haveli18. Special Branch, Lakshadweep Police19. Special Protection Group 20. Defence Research and Development Organisation21. Border Road Development Board22. Financial Intelligence Unit, India

RTI-- Success Stories

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