Reports of the Chief Information Commissioner of Nagaland state, I. Meyionen Jamir, meeting the Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, YK Sinha in New Delhi on May 27 has come as an interesting development for at least those who are following the news.
Their meeting holds significance because, as reported, they discussed various issues relating to effective implementation of the RTI Act in Nagaland. In the recent past, the Nagaland Information Commission’s performance has been hailed by various observers, including the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives (CHRI).
A number of RTI applicants have made their findings public, thereby holding the government accountable. Unfortunately, RTI is limited to seeking and receiving public information and what happens after receiving the information is a different matter altogether.
The basic object of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of the Government, contain corruption, and make democracy work for the people in real sense.
It goes without saying that an informed citizen is better equipped to keep necessary vigil on the instruments of governance and make the government more accountable to the governed. The Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the activities of the Government. Yet, humans have a way of making good things bad.
Even a potent tool to contain corruption, such as the RTI, has been turned into a tool to perpetuate corruption quite ironically. There are reports of citizens misusing the RTI Act.
As reported, the Nagaland CIC on Friday during his meeting with the Central CIC discussed the misuse of the Act by the RTI applicants for personal benefits, blackmailing of Government departments, and thereby disrupting the normal functioning of office and measures to tackle such issues were discussed.
This misuse of RTI is a very serious issue and the most discouraging impact of its misuse is that it deters sincere citizens from genuinely seeking information through RTI as they do not want to be identified as being engaged in a corrupt practice.
Meanwhile, another issue concerning the RTI Act is its 2019 amendment which says that the salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.
In other words, the newly amended bill empowers the Central Government to prescribe the terms of office for the commissioners and their salaries as it may deem fit which the opposition parties were opposed to.
The opposition parties were not totally wrong in opposing the amendment, regardless of whatever the government’s claims may be, because the amendment entails government control over the CIC essentially defeating the very purpose of enacting the RTI in the first place.
Be that as it may, the RTI Act is indeed a powerful tool which the citizens can and must use to promote transparency and accountability.