Dr.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SUBJECT: RIGHT TO INFORMATION

PROJECT ON TOPIC :

“RTI AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN INDIA"

Under the guidance of :

Dr. Aparna Singh

Associate Professor (Law)

Submitted by :

HARSHA

B.A.LL.B.(Hons.)

Constitution Law

Semester: 9

Enrol. No.: 150101052

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 ACKNOWLEDEGEMENT

I, Harsha, acknowledges the contribution my teacher Dr. Aparna Singh who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic RTI AND GOOD
GOVERNANCE IN INDIA which also helped me in doing a lot of research and I came to
know so many new things. I am highly indebted to him for his guidance and constant
supervision as well as for providing me necessary information regarding the project and also
for his support in completing the project.

I would also like to thank the library members of RML NLU who have willingly helped me
out with their abilities.

I would like to express gratitude towards my parents for their kind co-operation and
encouragement which helped me in the completion of this project.

Lastly I would like to thank my colleagues in developing the project within the limited time
frame without which I would not have been able to complete my project file.

Thank You

HARSHA

B.A.LL.B.(Hons.)

Semester – 9

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
OBJECTIVES OF RTI..........................................................................................................................4
NEXUS BETWEEN RTI AND GOOD GOVERNANCE.....................................................................4
Greater Transparency........................................................................................................................4
Greater Accountability......................................................................................................................5
Rule of Law:......................................................................................................................................5
Participation:.....................................................................................................................................6
IMPACT OF RTI IN RURAL INDIA...................................................................................................6
Rajasthan...........................................................................................................................................7
Delhi..................................................................................................................................................7
Uttar Pradesh.....................................................................................................................................8
Punjab................................................................................................................................................8
Assam................................................................................................................................................8
CHALLANGES IN RTI WAY OF GOOD GOVERNANCE...............................................................9
LANDMARK DECISION BY THE CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSION.........................................10
SUGGESTIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF RTI ACT11
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................12
BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................................12

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 INTRODUCTION
“Where a society has chosen to accept democracy as its creedal faith, it is elementary that the
citizens ought to know what their government is doing.”

-Justice P N Bhagwati

“Democracy is the form of government established by the people, of the people and for the
people”. This phrase suits on the text only until and unless there is access of right to
information of the activities of their representatives. This right includes right of holding
public opinion and to seek, receive information from the public authorities.

There is very close link between right to information and good governance. Right to
Information is the tool of achieving the goals of good governance. The essences of good
governance are transparency, accountability, responsiveness and consequently these are
promoted or facilitated by the Right to Information.1

Welfare of the people is considered as the goal of representative form of government and the
source of the government’s income is generated from the taxes paid by these people,
consequently they have justifiable right to know whether their income is properly utilised or
not. The extent of this right does not limited to mere getting information but to but also to
take legal action in form of PIL etc. and get the justice through the courts of law.

RTI has the very active and vital role in the good governance in India; where, corruption and
criminalization is the nerve of administration and the source of this corruption is the secrecy
which they have maintained for the long time, therefore introduction of the RTI Act is the
measure step towards reducing the corruption to certain extent.

“We live in an age of information, in which the free flow of information and ideas
determines the pace of development and well being of the people. The implementation of RTI
Act is, therefore, an important milestone in our quest for building an enlightened and at the
same time, a prosperous society. Therefore, the exercise of the Right to Information cannot
be the privilege of only a few.”2

1
http://www.rrtd.nic.in/RIGHT%20TO%20INFORMATION.html (last visited on 6 th Oct. 2019)

2
http://rti.gov.in/manu_moudgil_rti_fellowship_report.pdf (last visited on 6 th Oct. 2019)

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People who have access to information and who understand how to make use of the acquired
information in the processes of exercising their political, economic and legal rights become
empowered, which, in turn, enable them to build their strengths and assets, so as to improve
the quality of life. And ultimately this is only the aim of good governance.

Focusing on the importance of RTI Prime Minister “Digital India, which was the part of good
governance campaign of the government was complementary to RTI because putting
information online brings transparency which in turn brings trust.”Further he says “RTI has
become a tool of good governance. The RTI Act should not just be limited to a citizen’s right
but it should empower everyone to hold truth to power”.3

OBJECTIVES OF RTI
The basic object of the Right to Information Act is to empower the citizens, promote
transparency and accountability and greater participation in the working of the Government,
Contain corruption, and make our 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.4 The
Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the activities of the
Government.

NEXUS BETWEEN RTI AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

“Open Government is the new democratic culture of an open society towards which every
liberal democracy is moving and our country should be no exception. In a country like India
which is committed to socialistic pattern of society, right to know becomes a necessity for the
poor, ignorant and illiterate masses.”5

Whenever we talk about good governance, basic and first things that strike in our minds are
transparency, accountability, participation of the people, informed citizenry etc, and these
elements are core value of any good governance. The objectives and purpose of the very RTI
Act is to achieve these objectives, so in this way it acts as a tool for good governance.

The objectives of the Act are:

3
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/rti-can-usher-in-good-governance/734288.html (last visited on
6th Oct. 2019)
4
Id. at 1
5
SP Gupta v. UOI (AIR) 1982 SC (149)

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Greater Transparency: Rights which are provided in various sections of the Act certainly
facilitates the greater transparency in work of public authorities. For instance, under section
2(j), of the Act, a citizen has the right to:

 Inspection of work, documents, records

 Taking notes extracts or certified copies of the documents or records
 Taking certified sample of material, and
 Obtaining information in electronic form, if available

Under section 4(1)(d) of the Act, a public authority is required to provide reasons for its
administrative or quasi judicial decision to the affected persons.

The commission u/s 20(1) has power to impose penalties or to recommend disciplinary action
against the information providers, if held for being stone in path of the free flow of
information. In other words, intention of the framers of this Act is that there should not be
any bottle neck in the process of free flow of information to the citizens. The citizens are thus
better informed about the performance and contributions of the elected representatives, which
augurs well for a healthy democracy and democratic governance of projects.6

One of the most important features of the Act is that a person who seeks information need not
provide any reasons and very much unnecessary details of himself/herself which encourages
more filing of RTIs, which ultimately promotes greater transparency.

However, it is admitted that this feature has its own disadvantage also. Sometime this right is
misused by few people, but the number of misuse is far less than the benefit out of it.

Greater Accountability: One of the brilliant features of RTI is that it makes public
authorities answerable to the general public, which strengthen the participatory democracy.
Every public authorities is required to provide reasons for its administrative and quasi judicial
decisions to the affected persons u/s 4(1)(d) of the Act, and hence the possibility of
arbitrariness reduce to the great extent. 7

The worldwide accepted indicators of good governance over the period of time are:

 Voice and accountability Political stability and absence of violence

 Government effectiveness
6
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43953611?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (last visited on 7 th Oct. 2019)
7
Id.

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  Regulatory quality
 Rule of law
 Control of corruption

Rule of Law: Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially.
A fair, predictable and stable legal framework is essential so that businesses and individuals
may assess economic opportunities and act on them without fear of arbitrary interference or
expropriation. This requires that the rules be known in advance, that they be actually in force
and applied consistently and fairly, that conflicts be resolvable by an independent judicial
system, and that procedures for amending and repealing the rules exist and are publicly
known.8

Participation: Good governance requires the participation of the society in formation of

policies, legislations, strategy, etc. since all these policies affect the society as a whole or say
a particular part of the society, whatever the case may be but the participation of people is
very crucial in determining the path of governance.

Even if a particular part of society has the secondary effect of the particular programme or
policy, there should be consultancy process so that their view should be taken into the
account.

Governance which lacks these components certainly turns into a bad governance. The path
without adoption of these components leads to abuse of power, corruption, aloofness in
administration.9

IMPACT OF RTI IN RURAL INDIA

Information is the currency that every citizen requires to participate in democracy. The
greater the access of the citizen to information, the greater would be the responsiveness of
Government towards its people.10

Despite launching various schemes and measures for empowering and developing rural India,
the majority of rural India is still recognized by high incidence of poverty and illiteracy,
widespread disease, considerable unemployment, prevalent malnutrition level among

8
Id.
9
https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=146976 (last visited on 7 th Oct. 2019)
10
https://www.mediaforrights.org/rti-and-governance/1010-rti-and-governance (last visited on 7 th Oct. 2019)

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children, miserable rural infrastructure like roads, electricity, primary health, drinking water,
traditional way of farming, lack of irrigation facilities and many other such sociopolitical
problems.

It is a non deniable fact that the rural people are less aware in knowing and exercising their
right that results in growing corruption rate of public works in the rural area. It is at this
juncture that a tool like RTI can make the path breaking impact in combating corruption and
giving the people their share of interest which the Government assures them.

The most important feature that distinguishes the Right to information from other rights is
that it is deeply rooted in the struggles and concerns for survival and justice of most
disadvantaged rural people. The Act is influencing rural people to come forward and question
the progress on various welfare schemes, creating a positive change in the most backward
areas of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam and
in Maharashtra. Let’s study some cases where the RTI became a major tool for achieving
good governance in India.11

Rajasthan
The first remarkable battle to fight corruption by accessing information from public
authorities started in the Devdungri village, Rajasthan. Aruna Roy, an IAS officer
who left her job to work for the betterment of the village people who were often
cheated in their wages because of their illiteracy. Observing the plight of the rural
people, Aruna Roy, in 1987, along with Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh founded the
Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS).
For years, in that area, the people have been habitual victims of unremitting tradition
of acts of corruption by state authorities like extortion, nepotism, arbitrariness, yet
they have been mostly silent sufferers trapped in settled despair and cynicism. In
1994, MKSS entered a new phase, breaking new ground with experiments in fighting
corruption through the methodology of ‘Jan Sunwais’ or public hearings. This
movement, despite its local character, had state-wide reverberations that shook the
very foundations of the traditional monopoly, arbitrariness and corruption of the state
bureaucracy. It was because of this RTI Act that made access to official records
available which helped in organizing the Jan Sunwais.12

11
http://docs.manupatra.in/newsline/articles/Upload/AC9CD2C7-B8AD-4C5A-B910-3751BFE5CB28.pdf (last
visited on 7th Oct. 2019)
12
Id.

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Delhi
Hunger, malnutrition and occasional cases of starvation deaths in the rural areas of
our country are a major cause of concern. In order to ensure the food security and to
maintain the appropriate nutritional level among the citizens the Government has put
in place the Public Distribution System (PDS), which is supposed to make available
the monthly rations to the people in subsidised rate to the below poverty line (BPL)
and the poorest of the poor section of population. But due to the existence of unholy
nexus between the licensees of the fair price shops (FPS) and the officers of food
supply department, substantial portion of the money is siphoned off through black
marketing, as a result of which the whole PDS system is in shambles. But, the fact
that the use of RTI can change the whole PDS system was proved by the people of
Sunder Nagri area of Delhi. The information gathered through RTI showed the
massive corruption in the system and immediate action regarding this was taken.

Uttar Pradesh
In a Pre-Middle School in Panchampur village, situated 70 kilometers away from the
District Headquarters of Banda, Uttar Pradesh, a teacher was appointed for the school.
However, the teacher was absent for most of the times. The workers and volunteers
from the Delhi based organisations like Kabir and Parivartan, along with the local
workers from the Chingari Sangathan under the ‘Action Research Villages’
Campaign, propagated the use of the Right to Information. Finally, the villagers
witnessed a ray of hope when they learned that they could question the Government
and ask for information related to the attendance records, leave records and medical
records of the absconding village school teacher.13

Punjab
The life of a spy is really dangerous as it consist risk at every point. And no one
knows better than Kishorilal Sharma, alias Amarik Singh, alias Saleem, who spied for
India in Pakistan. He put his life into danger relying on the Indian Military
Intelligence (IMI) who made promises to him, that they would help him and his
family as and when needed. Though he was expecting a warm welcome after his
release from a Pakistani prison on September 18, 1974, yet no one turned up at the
border to receive him. Even the IMI refused to recognise him, and this is a common
tendency in the intelligence system of any country. However, the state Government
13
Id.

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 assured that it would provide financial aid for people like Sharma. He fought for a
long time yet nothing materialized. On September 2005, he filed an RTI application
regarding this matter. When this case came into light, over 50 other complaints were
also received pertaining to the malpractices in District Commissioner office, Police
department, Income Tax department, Chief Secretary, Punjab and many other
departments. This single complaint led the way to expose major corrupt practices in
the Government departments of the State.14

Assam
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) is a prominent organisation based in the state
of Assam formed by RTI activist Akhil Gogoi. The organisation works on diverse
range of issues ranging from corruption in public distribution system,
nonimplementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA),
land rights, Governmental and corporate corruption, construction of big dams in
fragile seismic territories of North East India etc. The most prominent work of the
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti was in 2007 when they filed an RTI application that
revealed irregularities in the distribution of food meant for people below the poverty
line. The allegations of corruption were probed and several high profile Government
officials were arrested. They are still going through suspension because of their
corrupt activities.15

CHALLANGES IN RTI WAY OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

 Low Level of Awareness:
The Act itself through section 26 states that the appropriate government may develop
and organise educational programmes to promote the understanding of the public,
especially the disadvantage community, regarding how to exercise the right
contemplated under the Act. However according to the surveys, nearly 20%of the
respondents were aware of the RTI Act.
Sources of this awareness were:
 Mass media channels like television channels, newspapers etc.
 Word of mouth

14
Id.
15
Id.

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 This awareness level is further lower among disadvantaged community such as
women, rural population, and backward classes like SCs, STs, and OBCs.16

 Inconvenient submission channels for RTI application: As per Section 6(1) of the Act
a citizen can make a request “in writing or through electronic means in English or
Hindi or in the official language of the area in which the application is being made…..
However, inadequate efforts have been made to receive RTI applications through
electronic means i.e., on email/ website etc, which can be done by the appropriate
Government using Section 26(3c).
 Protection of Whistleblowers: This is one of the most alarming issues in the way of
RTI. Recent data and surveys clearly show the increasing number of assault and
murder of RTI activists throughout the country. The whole purpose of the Act will be
of no use if such types of activities are not prevented and if strict punishments are not
inflicted to the wrongdoers.
 Lack of Uniformity: The implementation of RTI act is uneven. It is not equally
implemented to all the states. Therefore, awareness level also differs from state to
state. In states like Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab the awareness level
about RTI act is high, on the other hand awareness of people in Gujrat,
Madhyapradesh, Jharkhand and UP is not high. Moreover different rules for different
states especially on fees and costs make the RTI filing ineffective.
 Favouritism: Generally, it is observed that retired bureaucrats are being appointed for
the post of highest level of RTI officials i.e. the information commission at the central
and state levels. These commissions are the independent of the government. Activists
are of the opinion that these officials often show sympathetic attitude towards their
fellow babus.17

LANDMARK DECISION BY THE CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSION

1. In the case of Paramveer Singh v. Punjab University, the applicant applied for
information regarding the merit list for selection of candidates to a particular post
in the university. However, no proper information was provided. The Commission
held that every public authority, must take all measures in pursuance of Section

16
http://meity.gov.in/content/right-information-dpl-act-policies (last visited on 7th Oct. 2019)
17
http://rti.gov.in/rticorner/studybypwc/progress_made.pdf (last visited on 7 th Oct. 2019)

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 4(1) (a) to implement efficient record management systems in their offices so that
the requests for information can be dealt promptly and accurately.
2. In the case of Shyam Yadav v. Department of Personnel Training, the applicant
had sought details of property statements filed by bureaucrats. The Commission
held that property statements filed by civil servants are not confidential and
information can be disclosed after taking the views of concerned officials as per
the provisions of the RTI Act.
3. In case of Ram Bhaj v. Delhi Government, the appellant sought information about
the guidelines issued by the Department of Personnel and Training regarding the
disposal of public grievances within a specified time frame. The CIC directed the
Delhi Government to inform the common man about the timeframe required to
redress their grievances.18

SUGGESTIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PROPER IMPLEMENTATION

OF RTI ACT
 Since, as mentioned above, lack of awareness is the main challenge for the
implementation of the Act, therefore the “publicity” of the Act becomes very
important. There must be allocation of enough funds from the government side for the
publicity of the RTI Act, and also, these funds should be spent through CIC.
 Apart from government, NGOs and civil society groups should take initiatives to
conduct awareness campaign to educate rural population about the Act. These
initiatives must preferably targeted towards vulnerable groups like, women, farmers,
middle and working class people; the reason for the same is that these classes of
people are the more affected groups who suffer due to the exploitation of public
authorities.
 With the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 completing a decade of its enactment,
it is high time for our judicial fraternity to revisit its hitherto adopted conservative
approach with respect to submitting itself before this progressive piece of legislation
aimed at insuring transparency and accountability in working of every authority so
that it gives a clear and strong signal to all those critics who often decry and question
its image as an institution functioning in a clandestine and opaque manner.

18
http://ijlljs.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/RTI_and_Good_Governance.pdf (last visited on 7 th Oct. 2019)

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  Introduction of the RTI Act in the school syllabus is also very important so that the
children who are considered as the future leaders of the country may get a brief idea
of the Act and they could be encouraged to knowing further in future.
 Public officials, such as district collectors and deputy commissioners, who are
responsible for the administration at district level, must be given responsibility of
monitoring and implementation of the Act through various departmental authorities
within their respective district.19
 It is evident from the past few years that the life of whistleblowers is no safe in this
country. There is rapid increase in the number of attacks and also some result in death
of these activist. It is the moral responsibility of the government to protect RTI
activists and users and take legal action against the attackers; punishment of such type
of offenders must be enhanced.
 Officials representing public authority must be trained so that they are made aware of
their duties and obligations under the RTI Act.
 Political influence on the public authorities may be hindrance in the efficient working
of these authorities, so they have to maintain integrity by ignoring the vested interest.
 Finally, democratization of information and knowledge resources is critical for
people’s empowerment to realize the entitlements as well as to augment opportunities
for enhancing the options for improving quality of life. The strengthening of
information regime is therefore sine quo non for promoting democratic governance
and right to development.20

19
http://ijlljs.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/RTI_and_Good_Governance.pdf (last visited on 7 th Oct.2019)
20
https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=146976 (last visited on 7 th Oct.2019)

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 CONCLUSION
Thus it can be correctly said that RTI as a whole is a great step in a democratic set up like
India. It is a powerful tool that can deliver significant social benefits. It can provide a strong
support to democracy and promote good governance by empowering citizen’s ability to
participate effectively and hold government officials accountable rather than just an
information provider.

However, there are challenges in the effective implementation of the Act but the same can be
removed by taking suitable measures and the goal of good governance, i.e. transparency,
accountability, greater participation etc. can be achieved through RTI.

Currently, the RTI Act is passing through the decisive phase, much more needs to be done to
facilitate its growth and development.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:

1. Right to information Concept, Law, Practice, N.K. Jain, New Delhi: Regal
Publications,2007. 1-89
2. Commentary on the Right to Information Act, Dr. J.N. Barowalia, Delhi: Universal
Law Publishing, 2006.
3. Right to Information Implementation Problems and Solutions, S.D. Sharma and Priti
Saxena, New Delhi: Regal Publications, 2013. 37 (5.3)

Web Sources:

 http://www.rrtd.nic.in/RIGHT%20TO%20INFORMATION.html
 http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/rti_dh.htm
 http://www.irjcjournals.org/ijmssr/Feb2013/8.pdf
 http://meity.gov.in/content/right-information-dpl-act-policies
 http://rti.gov.in/rticorner/studybypwc/Executive%20Summary.pdf
 http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/ai/rti/india /articles/The%20Movement
%20for%20RTI%20in%20India.pdf
 http://rti.gov.in/rticorner/studybypwc/progress_made.pdf

 https://right2information.wordpress.com/category/rtisuccess-stories/

 http://rti.gov.in/manu_moudgil_rti_fellowship_report.pdf

 http://rti.gov.in/rticorner/studybypwc/progress_made.pdf

 http://pradeepbaisakh.blogspot.in/2009/02/right-toinformation-and-rural.html

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Indianspies-want-status-at-par-with-
exservicemen/articleshow/716.cms

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