Right to information act and its Amendments

For a legal professional, it is necessary to have access to information in order to handle a lawsuit or any case concerning a government or public authority. For this, the most basic right that the government of India have given to all its citizens the * Right to information* is very useful. Documents acquired through the right to information are taken as strong evidence. Also, this information also helps them to provide valuable services to their client. Let’s first understand what is Right to information is, why it was enacted, its objectives, amendment and most importantly time period in which we can get information.

Right to Information Act, 2005:

Right to information commonly known as RTI is enshrined under Article 19 (1)(A) of the Indian constitution, which states that every citizen has the freedom of speech and expression. First, when a bill was introduced in the parliament regarding the freedom of information to the public in 1997, which become an act named the Freedom of Information act in 2002. But due to some reasons, it was not notified. After this, to ensure greater more effective access to information, the government wanted to make this act more progressive, participatory and significant. With the suggestion of the National Advisory Council, there were certain changes in the existing act which ensure smoother and better access to information.

“ An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”

It is said that good governance has four basic components i.e, transparency, accountability, predictability, and participation. Thus the RTI plays an important role in good governance, as it keeps transparency between the government and citizens and also keeps accountability in the functioning of government. For knowing the complete history behind the introduction of RTI, many learners opt for online law certification courses, offered by legal learning platforms

Liberty included in the Right to information:

The following are the rights which citizens can get under the right to information;

• Right to inspect works, documents, and records.

• Right to take a certified sample of the material

• Right to obtain information in the form of printouts.

• Right to take notes, extract information or certified copies of documents and records.

This right can help a lot, especially in the legal profession the documents or information accessed through RTI is completely authentic and can be used as evidence.

Objective of RTI:

The primary and topmost goal of the Right to information act was to empower the citizens. Being a citizen of a democratic country, every individual has the right to know information about what is happening in the country, parliament and how the representatives, chosen by them are working. To promote transparency and accountability in the working of the government. This also helps in solving the problem of Corruption, as people are free to ask for documents, records, press releases, and survey reports in form of data. This makes democracy works in a real and systematic way.

Importance of Right to Information Act, 2002:

The Supreme court of India once said that the People are the master and the master has a right to know how the government, meant to serve them, is functioning. That’s why RTI holds such importance and is considered a fundamental right. This act also supports the freedom of expression and speech as, without complete information, a valid opinion or expression cannot be made. RTI acts as a tool to fight against corruption, and examine if the government representatives are meeting their expectations or not. This law empowers citizens to ask for information related to all projects or organizations which are being funded by the government.

Amendment in RTI act in 2019:

Through RTI Amendment Act, 2019, there were certain changes in section 13, section 16 and section 27 in the previous act. The changes were in accord to amend the status, salary and tenure of Central Information Commissioners(CICs) and State Information Commissioners. Thus, this amendment seeks to empower the centre to decide tenure, salary, allowances and other terms of services of the information commissionary.

This Amendment was highly criticised and was even called the “RTI elimination Bill” and a threat to independence. This amendment is said to be an attack on accountability and transparency of the government’s account provided by the RTI act,

Exceptions of RTI:

There is certain information that does not come under the RTI and the public can’t get access to them, some exceptions are given in the RTI act, 2005 such as; any information, whose copyright is not owned by the state, information that is received in confidence from a foreign government, information that can endanger a person’s life or information that comes in way of law enforcement. For knowing all the exceptions of the Right to information act, learners choose free online law certification courses, as it is necessary to learn all this for applying for the information in RTI.

Time Period for getting information:

If information asked concerns the life or liberty of a person, then it must be delivered within 48 hours. But in general cases, the information asked by the applicant must be shall be supplied within 30 days from the day the application was received by the public authority. If the request is sent to a different public authority then the information will be delayed for 5 days in both cases.

Conclusion:

A democratic country needs a well-informed public, to ensure it RTI plays a vital role in this. Also, through this RTI, the public authority comes under the scrutiny of the public, and citizens have the right to know the process of government offices. This act has converted India from a defective democracy to a participatory one. Through this RTI act, many government scandals have been brought to light and in front of the public. For law aspirants this act, not just to handle a lawsuit or a legal procedure of an individual but also for themselves, is very important. Many online legal certification courses are based on such topics to ensure that law aspirants know the complete procedure taken under the act of RTI.