Misuse of the RTI Act

That a section of unscrupulous elements have been misusing provisions of the Right to Information Act 2005 to carry out criminal activities has once again come to the fore, this time in a big way, when the Assam Police arrested a few persons for allegedly extracting money by blackmailing others. It has been reported that some persons claiming to be “RTI activists” identified an officer in a government department who had allegedly misappropriated a huge sum of money, and extracted several lakh rupees from the officer by first filing RTI applications and then withdrawing them following some “understanding” with the officer. It is interesting to note that the particular promoted IAS officer who had allegedly misappropriated several crores of rupees in connivance with some of her relatives (including reportedly two of her sons-in-law too), had arrived at some “understanding” with the self-styled “RTI activists” to withdraw their applications by paying them bribes through bank transfers. The investigating team has already reportedly ascertained that funds were illegally transferred from a government account to some private individuals who were in no way connected with the said department. It may be recalled that it was only recently that YK Sinha, the Central Chief Information Commissioner in Guwahati, warned against misuse of the RTI Act. In this context, it is also worth mentioning that the Assam Information Commission had in the past year or so banned at least four self-styled “RTI activists” by asking the various public authorities not to entertain their RTI applications because they were found misusing the RTI Act. That certain elements have tried to misuse the RTI Act and make it a money-making device has already become an all-India phenomenon. While the Central Information Commission and several State Information Commissions have made significant attempts to arrest such activities, the Supreme Court too has made certain very important observations helpful towards curbing misuse of the RTI Act. What appears to be required, however, is a vigorous campaign to generate awareness about the importance of the RTI Act and to increase vigilance against misuse of the country’s most citizen-friendly legislation. The RTI Act should not be allowed to be seen as a tool for blackmail, threats, harassment, and extortion.