The Right to Information Act was brought in with great hopes in 2005. After 12 years the law is losing steam as information is routinely denied. Sometimes, even the denial is sent months after the original application. For example, the Indian Railway Board recently took 624 days to finally dispose of an RTI application filed by BusinessLine . This period, a little over 20 months and 15 days, is what it takes for a female Asiatic elephant to deliver her baby. Such elephantine delays are sapping the very spirit of the RTI Act. Under the RTI, BusinessLine had sought a detail project report on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. The quest for clarity began in December 2015 with a simple application.he Railways has still not bothered to respond to the application nor reply to the appeal. In effect, the bullet train project is being set up at a gargantuan cost of ₹97,636 crore but the citizens have no clue as to how their tax money is being spent on it.

In a number of RTI applications, especially those relating to the accountability of large public bodies, Public Information Officers (PIOs) routinely seek refuge under the Section 8(1)d of the RTI Act to deny information. This section is meant for non-disclosure of trade secrets and intellectual property information. But in the new regime, it is invoked regularly for stonewalling information seekers. This was evident in the RBI’s manner post-demonetisation. The RTI Act in its present avatar needs to be amended, with punitive clauses, so that PIOs are obliged to part with the information. The RTI process should move to a digital platform, connecting every government department. All digital RTI applications should have built-in countdown timers so that, when the information is not provided, the matter gets escalated to the higher authorities in a time-bound manner.

Rahul Wadke Special Correspondent

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