Threat From Within

Vacancies in the Central Information Commission, the backlog of applications and the attempts to weaken the RTI Act raise fresh concerns about the government’s commitment to transparency.

- Akshay Deshmane

ON December 6, Vigyan Bhawan, a government-run convention centre in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, was filled with hundreds of people from across the country— those implementing the Right to Information (RTI) system and those using it. They were there to attend the 12th Annual RTI Convention, a government-sponsored stocktaking exercise on the implementation of the landmark transparency law.

The chief guest and guest of honourwereVicePresidentM.Venkaiah NaiduandMinister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh. Like every year, their speeches received close attention from those assembled as their pronouncements signify the government’s intent, focus and future commitment towards the implementation of the RTI system.

In his half-hour-long speech, Venkaiah Naidu spoke about the need for transparency and accountability in the conduct of the government as envisaged in theRTIAct.He said: “Information can be empowering if it is authentic and that’s why I coined a phrase, ‘Information with confirmation is more than ammunition’.” Significantly, he suggested that information must be given to the applicant in his “mother tongue” or “at least in the scheduled languages”. This was well received.

Jitendra Singh’s pronouncements, however, had the opposite effect, provoking a bit of a controversy. In his relatively brief address, he spoke about appointment of Information Commissioners (ICs) in the Central Information Commission (CIC), the top adjudicating authority for the RTI Act, and suggested possible changes to the rules for filing RTI applications with a stated intent of cutting down on the backlog and the number of applications that are filed every year. He claimed that “for the first time” the government had filled all vacancies of ICs.