The document discusses transparency and the Right to Information (RTI) Act in India. It provides background on the need for the RTI Act, as the Indian government system had long been secretive. It outlines the objectives of the RTI Act, which include empowering citizens and promoting transparency. It describes citizens' rights to information under the Act and the meaning of a public authority. It also discusses exclusions from the Act, the procedure for seeking information, and assessments of both the advantages and limitations of the RTI Act. Amendments made to the RTI Act in 2019 that reduced the tenure of information commissioners are also summarized.

1. TRANSPARENCY AND RTI
~ SWETA SINGH

2. RIGHT TO INFORMATION
The Need for Information
• Indian government system has long been known for its secrecy and red-tapism.
• The information in government was secret and protected under Official Secret Act
1923.
• It was a criminal offence to share information to public or any other agency.
• No one could question decision of government servant.
• This made government officers unaccountable and arrogant.
• In democracy: 'Government of the people, by the people, for the people'.
• Information empowers people, the real rulers in democracy.

3. Objectives of RTI Act
• Empower the citizens,
• Promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government,
• Contain corruption, and
• Make Indian democracy work for the people in real sense.
Right of Citizen
• Any citizen of India can obtain 'information' under this law.
• They can inspect work, documents, reports held by Public Authorities or even information relating to private
authorities under the control of the Public Authorities.
They are also entitled to take notes, extracts, certified copies of records and documents as also obtain
information in the form of diskettes, floppies or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such
information is stored in a computer or in any other device.

4. Meaning of Public Authority
• A 'public authority' is any institution or authority or body of government established or
constituted by or under the Constitution, or by any other law made by the Parliament or
State Legislature, or by notification issued or order made by the Government of India or
the State Government.
It also includes,
• The bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government of India
or the State Government; and
• Non-Government organizations substantially financed by the Government of India
or the State Government.

5. Exclusion from the RTI Act
• Certain agencies like IB, DRI, NCB, BSF, CRPF are excluded from the purview of RTI Act.
• Certain Information like those relating to security, public safety, correspondence with foreign
government are excluded.
• The third party information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual
property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of third party, is also
exempt from disclosure.
• Except under exceptional situations (in the larger public interest) after giving full opportunity to
the third party concerned.
• Private Information, which has no connection with the public interest, cannot be disclosed under
the Act in normal course.

6. Procedure for seeking information
• Each government department or the public authority must appoint their Public
Information Officer {PIO).
• The citizen makes an application to the Public Information Officer (PIO) concerned of the
Public Authority in writing.
• He makes the payment of the prescribed application fee, at the time of submitting the
application.
• The applicant can send the application by post or through electronic means or can deliver
it personally in the office of the public authority or through an Assistant Public Information
Officer.

7. • If information is held by another public authority; the public authority to which such
application is made, shall transfer the application or such part of the application to that
other public authority and 1nform the applicant immediately about such transfer.
• No personal details or any reason for seeking the information is needed.
• PIO within 30 days of the receipt of the request should either provide the information or
reject the request for any of the reasons specified in the Act.
• The information concerning the life or Liberty of a person shall be provided within 48
(forty- eight) hours of the receipt of the request.
• If the PIO fails to give decision within the period specified, it shall be deemed to have
refused the request.

8. Assessment to The Advantages of RTI
• Empowerment of Citizens
• Simple procedure to get information
• Reduces arbitrariness in decision making
• Checked corruption
• Created fear in the government officers for arbitrary decision-making

9. The Limitations of RTI Act
• RTI Act is useful for getting the information. But it does not provide for redressal of
grievances of the citizens.
• Diversion of scare government resources to provide information
• Officers avoid taking difficult decisions due to fear of RTI
• Harassment and blackmailing by RTI Activists
• Difficulty in taking administrative action against inefficient and corrupt officers.
• It has demoralized honest officers in taking tough decisions.

10. Optimization of RTI Act
• Information asked should pertain to the person asking the information
• If information asked in public interest, the reasons must be disclosed
• Penalty for frivolous RTI application
• Realistic cost of providing information must be recovered from the applicant
• Information must come with the caveat that it can't be used for commercial or publicity purposes
Official Secrets Act, 1923
• The Official Secrets Act was enacted in 1923 and was retained after Independence.
• The law, applicable to government servants and citizens, provides the framework for dealing with
espionage, sedition, and other potential threats to the integrity of the nation.
• The law makes spying, sharing 'secret' information punishable offences.
• If guilty, a person may get up to 14 years' imprisonment, a fine, or both.

11. Information under OSA
• The information could be any reference to a place belonging to or occupied by the government,
documents, photographs, sketches, maps, plans, models, official codes or passwords.
OSA vs RTI
• OSA had become a contentious issue after the implementation of the Right to Information Act.
• The OSA does not define "secret" or "official secrets".
• Public servants could deny any information terming it a "secret" when asked under the RTI Act.

12. Opinion of 2nd ARC
• OSA should be substituted by a chapter in the National Security Act that incorporates the necessary
provisions.
• OSA's background is the colonial climate of mistrust of people and the primacy of public officials in dealing
with the citizens, it created a culture of secrecy.
• Under OSA, confidentiality became the norm and disclosure the exception.
• It contradicts the principles of RTI Act.
Is OSA is an obstacle for RTI?
• The official secrets act has become an obstacle to the implementation of the Rights to Information Act.
• It needs to be amended to harmonize with the provisions of the RTI Act or incorporated under National
Security Act (NSA) as recommended by the SARC.

13. Recent Amendment to RTI act
• Parliament passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in
August 2019
• The proposed amendments, give the union government the power to fix the
tenure, salaries, and terms and conditions of service of the information
commissioners (ICs), including the chief information commissioner (CIC) and
the state information commissioners (SICs).
• Thus the executive, and not the legislature, will get to determine the terms
and conditions of service of ICs.

14. Main Amendment Provisions
Central Information Commissioners
• Section 15 of the RTI Act is amended and the statutorily fixed term of five
years for the CIC is replaced with a term to be decided by the government
through rules made under the law.
• State Information Commissioner
• It gives the union government power to make rules in respect of the matters
pertaining to State ICs.
• It removes the parity between the ICs and ECs by having salaries,
• allowances, and terms and conditions of service
• The amendment will be prospective in nature.

15. Justification of the Government
• The RTI Act gave ICs a status equal to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)
and Election Commissioners (ECs), which also puts them at par with judges
of the Supreme Court insofar as salaries, allowances, and other terms and
conditions of service are concerned.
• The functions of the Election Commission of India (ECI) are very different
from those of the Central Information Commission and State Information
Commissions, and therefore the same needs to be "rationalised."

16. Counterview
• RTI activists and members of the opposition parties fear that this
amendment poses an existential threat to the RTI Act.
• Two former CICs have argued that the bill may kill the RTI Act itself.
• They contend that ICs and Election Commissioners have equivalence of
responsibilities which justifies their pay, allowance, and terms and
conditions of service.

17. Notification of RTI Rules
• RTI Rules were notified on October 24, 2019.
• The tenure of chief and information commissioners in the Central Information
Commission (CIC) and State Central Information Commissions (SCICs) has been reduced
to three years, instead of the five years.
• CIC is equated with a cabinet secretary while ICs shall be equal to Secretary. ICs are thus
subordinates to the CIC, who is made a subordinate of the government.
• Central government has the power to relax the provisions of any of the rules in respect of
any class or category of persons. Hence, government may invoke these powers to
determine different tenures for different commissioners at the time of appointment.

18. Impact of RTI Act Amendments
• The RTI amendment may weaken the position of Information Commissioners
• It will be much easy to remove them, in case Government is not happy with them.
• Their lower status now would attract less talented people.
• It will attract more government officers due to change in the pension clause.

20. Citizen Charter
• A written document showing the commitment of government to provide quality service to all citizens in time bound
manner
Origin of Citizen's Charter
Started by John Major, PM of UK in 1991
Tony Blair's government re-launched it in 1998 under the name 'Services First". ". It aimed to improve public services in the
UK by:
• Making administration accountable and citizen friendly.
• Ensuring transparency and the right to information.
• Taking measures to cleanse and motivate civil service.
• Adopting a stakeholder approach.
• Saving time of both executant and the client
• Easily understandable and quantified works.
• All departments would have to publish clear targets for levels of service.

21. Six Principles of Citizen's Charter
• Quality: improving the quality of services
• Choice: Wherever possible
• Standards: What to expect
• Value: for taxpayer's money
• Accountability: to individual and organization
• Transparency: of Rules/Procedures/Scheme/Grievances

22. Citizen's Charter in India
• "Action Plan for Effective and Responsive Government" was adopted at a
conference of Chief Ministers in 24 May 1997
• Citizen's Charter was to be developed at Centre and State Level.
• It was gradually adopted by different Central and State Government
departments.
Objectives of the Citizen's Charter
• Improve the quality of public services by letting people know the
• Mandate of the concerned government organization.
• Explain as to how one can get in touch with its officials, what to expect by
way of services and how to seek a remedy if something goes wrong.

23. Components of Citizen's Charter
• Vision Statement: It reflects the final objectives of an organization and the manner in which it seeks their
achievement. Vision statement must be prepared through consultative process involving all stakeholders
• Mission Statement: It outlines the specific objectives which propels the organization in tune with its vision
• Identification of Services: Charter should specify the services provided by the government organization.
Agencies use the term like 'Our Functions" or ' Our Duties and Responsibilities.'
• Providing Time Frame of Each Service: There has to be time frames for delivering each service which can help
citizens plan their operations in advance.
• Providing Information about the Public Grievance Redressal Mechanism:
It should be explained as to how citizen should approach the departmental officer in case of any grievance.
The details of officers with their contact no etc. should be provided.

24. Vision Statement of Central Board of Indirect Taxes CBIC
Our Vision is to provide an efficient and transparent mechanism for collection of indirect taxes and
enforcement of cross border controls with a view to encourage voluntary compliance.
Mission Statement CBIC
• Our Mission is to achieve excellence in the formulation and implementation of Customs, Central
Excise and GST Laws and procedures aimed at:
• realizing the revenues in a fair, equitable, transparent and efficient manner administering the
Government's economic, taxation and trade policies in a pragmatic manner
• Facilitating trade and industry by streamlining and simplifying Customs, Central Excise and GST .

25. Evaluation of Citizen Charter
• Centralization: The formulation of Citizens' Charters was driven from the top.
The consultation process was minimal or largely absent. It thus became one
of the routine activities of the organisation and had no focus.
• Lack of Training: The government employees did not get proper training and
orientation. Most work forces are unaware of the spirit and content of the
Charter.

26. • Lack of Awareness: There was little awareness campaigns to educate clients about the
Charter in a systematic manner.
• Unrealistic Goals: In some cases, the standards/time norms of services mentioned in
Citizens' Charter were either too lax or too tight and were, therefore, unrealistic. This
created an unfavourable impression on the clients of the Charter.
• Lack of Publicity: There was little publicity to make people aware of the citizens' charter.
Information brochures, publicity materials, pamphlets produced earlier by the
organisations were mistaken for Citizens' Charters.
• Poor complaint redressal system: While ambitious objectives were set in the Citizen's
charter, there was hardly any mechanism to redress the complaints, if the objectives are
not achieved.

27. Lessons Learned
• An effective awareness campaign amongst all the stakeholders at the initial stage is
essential to overcome the scepticism about any new initiative.
• Regular, untiring and persistent efforts are required to bring about the attitudinal changes.
There is a natural resistance to change. Involving and consulting all stakeholders may help
overcoming this resistance and make them and partner in this exercise.
• Instead of trying to reform all the processes at once and encounter massive resistance, it is
advisable to break it into small components and tackle them one at a time.
• The charter initiative should have a built-in mechanism for monitoring, evaluating and
reviewing the working of the Charters, preferably through an outside agency.

28. THANK YOU