The right to information is fundamental but it is being undermined
The narrative that the transparency activists and applicants are troublemakers must be challenged.
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In a video posted online in August, a Supreme Court judge can be seen scolding a young lawyer for having sought information about a municipal corporation under the Right to Information Act. “What are you going to do with all this information?” the judge asked as he lambastes the lawyer for seeking details of recruitment and budget. The judge called this a “classic case” of misusing the Right to Information Act since the lawyer is an “officer of the court” and added the Supreme Court would impose costs on him.
“It is high time all this is put to an end,” the judge said.
A few months later, the Madras High Court in December ruled that RTI applicants must give reasons for seeking information under the act. A division bench of Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice K Ravichandrababu said the intention of the law is not for information “to be given like pamphlets to any person unmindful of the object behind seeking such information”, according to The Hindu.
It is difficult to believe that a citizen can be asked why...
