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The
Central Act in India begins by explicitly recognising that all citizens
have the "right to information". This is in accordance with the
various Supreme Court decisions that have recognised that the right
to access information is a fundamental right under the Constitution.
In practice, it means that every citizen has a right to access information
from government, and all public bodies have a corresponding duty
to provide information (except in a small number of cases where
disclosure could be harmful to national interests).
Elaborating on the broad concept of a right to information,
public bodies covered by the Central Act must release information
in two ways:
- Bodies must proactively publish important and/or
routine information, referred to as suo moto or proactive disclosure.
The proactive
disclosure requirements under section 4 of the Central Act
have been discussed earlier;
- Bodies must disclose information on request,
except where an exemption
provision applies.
When
considering information requests, you need to keep in mind that
the key objective of the law is to promote greater access to information
by the public and therefore, to release as much information as possible.
The public has a "right to know" under the Constitution, as has
been recognised by the Supreme Court of India on numerous occasions.
Access
to "Information"
Section
3 of the Central Act gives all citizens a "right to information".
Notably:
- Section s.2(f) defines "information" to include
"any material in any form, including records, documents, memos,
e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders,
logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material
held in any electronic form and information relating to any private
body which can be access by a public authority under any other
law for the time being in force".
- Section 2(i) defines "record" to include: "(a)
any document, manuscript and file; (b) any microfilm, microfiche
and facsimile copy of a document; (c) any reproduction of image
or images embodied in such microfilm (whether enlarged or not);
and (d) any other material produced by a computer or any other
device".
Even
more significantly, section 2(j) defines the "right to information"
very broadly and recognises that a citizen can request a range of
different types of information in a range of different formats including:
- Obtaining certified copies of documents or records;
- Inspecting records;
- Taking notes and extracts;
- Inspecting public works;
- Taking samples of material from public works.
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
Question:
Are file notings covered by the Act?
File notings are not a generic category which can be exempted under
the Central Act. The unequivocal legal position is that file notings
fall clearly into the non-exhaustive definition of "information"
in s.2 and have not been protected from disclosure under the exemptions
under s.8. Under s.2(f) of the Central Act the definition of 'information'
is very wide and includes 'records'. Section 2(i)(a) of the Central
Act defines a 'record' to include any document, manuscript and file.
The Manual of Office Procedure, which all civil servants adhere
to by law when carrying out their duties, defines 'file' to cover
'notes' and 'appendices to notes'. Furthermore, under the 1997 Public
Records Rules, 'file' means a collection of papers relating to the
public records on a specific subject matter consisting of correspondence,
notes and appendices thereto and assigned with a file number. Thus,
from a legal and technical perspective, the term 'file' as understood
in section 2(i)(a) of the RTI Act includes file notings and so file
notings can legally be disclosed according to the Central Act.
Question:
What does s.2(f) mean when it talks about information that can be
accessed from private bodies?
The final clause in section 2(f) states that information includes
"information relating to any private body which can be accessed
by a public authority under any other law for the time being in
force". The intention of this clause is to permit a member
of the public to apply to a public authority to access information
which the authority should have collected from a private body. For
example, if under environmental legislation, a government department
is supposed to collect an annual report on waste disposal, a member
of the public can request the department for the annual report and
if it has not yet been submitted or received, the department is
under a duty to access it from the private body under the relevant
piece of legislation and then provide it to the requester (unless
it is covered by an exemption in s.8).
Question:
Can a person really inspect works and take samples under the Central
Act?
Although a relatively unusual provision in an access law it is true
that section 2 (j) of the Central Act permits the inspection of
works and taking of samples. In fact, a number of State RTI laws
included such a provision. In Delhi, for example, the provision
allowing the inspection of works and taking samples was used to
great effect to enable people to access information about whether
government and the contractors it employed were properly undertaking
public works.
Please
click on the link to the Central
RTI Act to read the detailed provisions contained in the law.
Please click on the link to CHRI's
State RTI pages to find out more about relevant rules and implementation
in your specific State.
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