DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

VISAKHAPATNAM

PROJECT TITLE: RTI – A TOOL FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

SUBJECT: ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

NAME OF THE FACULTY: Prof. (Dr.) Sridevi

NAME OF THE CANDIDATE: C ANAND HITESH

ROLL NO. : 2016027
SEMESTER: VI

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Firstly, I am, highly grateful to Prof. (Dr.) P Sridevi, of Damodaram Sanjivayya National
Law University, for her support and guidance throughout this project. We acknowledge with
deepest sense of gratitude, guidance and her support throughout the course of this project.

Secondly, I would also like to thank all information providers without whom this project
would have been incomplete.

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ABSTRACT

Topic: RTI – A tool for good governance

Accountability, transparency, freedom of speech and expressions etc; are inalienable feature
of any democratic system. And the importance of these becomes more when it comes to such
a diverse country like India. Right to Information Act, 2005 is a step ahead in achievement of
these ideals. The preamble of the Act itself provides that “Democracy requires an informed
citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to
contain corruption and to hold governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the
governed”. The transformation from mere governance to good governance is possible only if
the citizens of the country have right and access to information of and participation in the
governance.

The good governance is the governance in which people are served by their representatives
not ruled by their representatives. Participation of people is sine qua non of any democratic
form of government in achieving the ideal of good governance and RTI is a measure step
towards this goal. RTI, not only brings transparency, accountability in governance but also
act as the deterrent against the arbitrary actions, policies, and decisions of public authorities.
Therefore, RTI, undoubtedly strengthen the governance. The right to Information Bill, 2005
was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 11, 2005 and by the Rajya Sabha on May 12, 2005 and
received the assent of the President of India on June 15, 2005 and came to force on October
12, 2005. The paper tries to highlight the basic objective or purpose of RTI and its
importance with good governance. The paper focuses on the challenges or hindrances in
efficient working of this act and also recommendations regarding this.

“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. Welfare of the people is considered as the goal of
representative form of government and the source of the government’s income is generated

3
from the taxes paid by these people, consequently they have justifiable right to know whether
their income is properly utilised or not.

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. The
Act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about the activities of the
Government.

“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.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.No. CONTENT Page No.

1. Acknowledgment 2
2. Abstract 3
3. Objective of the study 6
4. Significance of the study 6
5. Review of literature 6
6. Research methodology 6
7. Introduction 7
8. Right to Information Act 9
9. Good Governance 12
10. Nexus between RTI act and good governance 15
11. RTI as a tool in promoting good governance 18
12. RTI act as a tool of empowerment for common people 21
13. Effects of RTI act in promoting good governance 22
14. Suggestions or recommendations for proper implementation of 25
RTI Act
15. Conclusion 26
16. References 27

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The main objective of the project is to know how RTI is a tool for good governance. And also
to know how RTI is the most useful fundamental law in the country.

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 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

The significance of the project is to make the readers aware about RTI as fundamental law of
the country and also that RTI is a tool for good governance in the country.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The researcher had taken the information from the articles, Websites and books, which
provided a lot of help for completion of the project. The information in the articles and
websites have been cited properly.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology used was doctrinal methodology. Doctrinal methodology includes

doing research from books, articles, journal, case study, newspapers and also taking the help
of web article and pdf.

INTRODUCTION

India is a democratic republic state. Here the Government is of the people, by the people and
for the people. Therefore, the people of our country have the right to know about the state
affairs. Freedom of information brings openness in the administration which helps to promote
transparency in state affairs, keep government more accountable and ultimately reduce
corruption. The free flow of information is must for a democratic society as it helps the

6
society to grow and retain a continuous debate and discussion among the people. But the
access to information held by a public authority was not possible before 2005 as before 2005,
the common people did not have any legal right to know about the public policies and
expenditures even in matters affecting legal entitlements for such subsidized services as food
for work, wage employment, basic education and health care, it was not easy to seek the
details of decision making process that affected or harmed him. And, therefore, it was not
possible for a common man to observe and scrutinize the public actions with a view to
providing feedback for rectifying the deficiencies in policy planning and the execution of
programmes.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
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

1
M. M. Ansari, Impact of Right to Information on Development: A Perspective on India’s Recent Experiences,
available at https://cic.gov.in/CIC-IntlEvents/IC-MA-LectureAtUNESCO-15052008.pdf.
2
Dr. Manmohan Singh ,former Prime Minister of India, Valedictory Address at the National Convention on
RTI, October 15, 2006

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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

It was quite ironical that people who voted the persons responsible for policy formation to
power and contributed towards the financing of huge costs of public activities were denied
access to the relevant information.4 After following a decade-long grassroots and civil society
campaign, the Right to Information Act, 2005 was passed by the UPA Government with a
sense of pride. It flaunted the Act as a milestone in India’s democratic journey. Since then,
India’s Right to Information Act is widely recognized as a strong law that has been
extensively used by citizens to access entitlements, redress grievances, and expose corruption
and mismanagement in government programs.5
Human security, shelter, food, environment and employment opportunity are all bound up
with Right to Information. In the absence of information on this issue, people can‘t live a
dignified life and will remain ever a marginalized group in the society. It is a powerful
instrument to protect the fundamental rights of people. Indian Parliament has passed Right to
Information Act, 2005 to make government accountable, responsible, efficient and
transparent in order to lead to good governance of the country. In fact, Right to Information
and Good governance are intertwined, they are the two sides of the same coin or two aspects
of the same aspiration, viz, to strengthen, stabilize and broaden the working of the democratic
system. Access to information by the public is the essential element and pre-requisite of good
governance. The RTI is now accepted, as a crucial underpinning of participatory democracy.
It has been widely acknowledged as a prerequisite for ensuring accountability and good
governance.6

RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005

India celebrated its first Republic Day on 26th January, 1950. That day, India became a
sovereign republic nation. The government exchequer collected by different ways ultimately
belongs to the citizens of the country. Citizens elect their representatives and send them to the
Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha for managing the public money. The people’s representatives
are actually public servants. As they are public servants, their position is secondary to that of

3
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, addressing at the 10th Annual Convention of RTI law.
4
C. Roy, Right to Information and its significance to ensure Good Governance in India, available
at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2343109.
5
S. Srivastava, RTI in India, Volume 1, No. 1, Quarter IV, Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences, 1 (2010).
6
P. A. Qureshi, RTI: A Tool of Good Governance, Volume 2, No. 4, Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies,
6 (2014), available online at www.ajms.co.in.

8
citizens. But, unfortunately, this fact has not been realized by the people in the last 60 years
of Independence. Some people with vested interest deliberately kept the citizens in darkness.
Citizens are at the helm of affairs in democracy, nobody is beyond them. The public servants
have to serve the citizens. But, the picture is altogether different today. The People’s
Representatives and the Civil Servants have become masters of the country and made the
citizens poor servants. This Act has enabled the common man to seek information. Till to-
date, the people have to obey the laws; whereas the government machinery controlled
everything. But by the advent of this Act, the Government Agencies have to obey the law and
the people have got controlling power. The world over, country after democratic country, has
recognized the need to keep their citizens informed about the way Government takes
decisions. In our country we have the Right to Information Act for the last 10 years. The
spirit of the Act can be best summarized by stating that without informed citizens there is no
democracy. It recognizes that in a democracy citizens are the masters and servants cannot
deny information to their masters. In fact, servants acts as trustees and hold the information
belonging to their masters. But for almost six decades, the servants behaved like masters and
the masters simply accepted this treatment.7

RTI can’t be Denied on the Ground that Information sought is Irrelevant

Case name: Adesh Kumar v. Union of India (Delhi High Court, 2014)
In the case, the Petitioner was aggrieved by denial of information under the RTI Act by the
concerned Public Information Officer in the case. FIR had been lodged against the Petitioner
during his tenure of service and subsequently, a charge sheet, against the petitioner was
submitted. On receipt of charge sheet, the Petitioner applied for information under the RTI
Act pertaining to sanction of prosecution against him.
However, the requested information was rejected by the CPIO claiming that there was no
obligation to provide the same by virtue of  Section  8(1)(h) of the RTI Act.
The Delhi High Court while dismissing the Petitioner’s plea in the case stated that impugned
provision prohibits furnishing of information which would  impede the process of
investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
However, the Court held that merely, citing that the information is exempted
under  Section   8(1)(h) of the RTI Act would not absolve the public authority from
discharging its onus as required to claim such exemption.

7
 A. Hazare, Right To Information, available at https://www.annahazare.org/rti.html.

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Further, the Delhi High Court in the case has held that whether the information sought by
the petitioner is relevant or necessary, is not relevant or germane in the context of the Act, a
citizen has a right to information.

Rampant corruption prevailing in the country forced the lawmakers to understand that there is
no way the country can become better without the servants favouring good governance.
Under these circumstances, the preamble of the Right to Information Act highlights
containing corruption, improving transparency and making servants accountable by
empowering citizens to get information.8
It lays down the foundation for a better tomorrow. In fact, every citizen who is the master has
now the same power to obtain information which only the legislators had so far. This single
aspect alone should create a new group of people who will demand good governance. This
tool should help the poorest. To help the poorest requires attacking corruption at its root. The
RTI Act is sufficiently strong in its present form to even attack the roots of corruption. There
will forever be corruption at the lower levels as long as its seeds are sown at the highest level.
The RTI Act can be used to expose these seeds of corruption which in turn can curb
corruption at the lower levels.
Today, in addition to this Act, we have the benefit of internet. Also most of the youth today
do not bribe to get jobs. Even if a small number of such people who can handle technology
effectively are motivated to fight corruption it can do wonders. Such optimism was
unthinkable only a few years back. The RTI Act, young people and internet can really bring
in the real freedom to everybody. This was unlike during Mahatma Gandhi’s time when he
had to move from place to place to mobilize people and use communication methods which
were very primitive. So, we are at a distinct advantage as we are empowered by technology.
India is graded year after year as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. By fighting
corruption we are making our own tomorrow better.
RTI Act recognizes that information held in any form should be made available to citizens. In
fact, samples of materials used also come under the definition of information. Overriding all
other facts, the RTI Act allows information pertaining to third parties to be given to the
citizen even if prohibited by the earlier Acts. The only requirement is that the information
sought should be in public interest. As far as information held by the Government including
personal information, the Act allows one to get such information without even giving any
reason as to why you need that information. The RTI Act not only helps the citizens but also
8
Ibid

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the whistle-blower and to recognize whether a particular person is a genuine whistle-blower
or not, all one has to do is see files handled by him earlier. In this way supporting a whistle-
blower is a much easier task today. But as whistle-blowers do not announce about their own
activities, opinion of individuals should be collected and likely whistle-blower’s list should
be prepared. The very fact of preparation of a whistle-blower’s list itself allows more
information to come regarding whistle-blowers.

Whether Particulars of FIR can be Disclosed under RTI Act?

Case name: Jiju Lukose v. State of Kerala (Kerala High Court, 2014)
In the case, a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a direction to upload the copy of the FIR
in the website of the police station and to make available copies of the FIR to the accused
immediately on registration of the FIR was sought for. The Petitioner had alleged that inspite
of the FIR being registered, the petitioner received its copy only after 2 months. Till the
petitioner could obtain a copy of the FIR, the petitioner and his family members were in dark
about the nature of the allegations levelled against the petitioner. Petitioner’s further
contended in the case that in view of the Right to Information Act, 2005all public officers
were under obligation to put all information recorded in the public domain. The FIR which is
lodged is to be put on the website of the police station, so that anyone can assess the FIR
including a person staying outside the country.
Decision
The CIC in the case held that FIR is a public document, however, where an FIR is covered by
the provisions under Section   8(1) of the RTI Act, it need not be disclosed to the citizens till
investigation is completed. But it can be claimed by the Informant and the accused as per
legal provisions under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 as a matter of legal right.
The provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 are specific to this effect, that is, the
supply of copy of FIR to the accused is contemplated only at a stage after proceedings are
being initiated on a police report by the competent Magistrate. That application for copy of
the FIR can also be submitted by any person under the 2005 Act.  It is however, relevant to
note that whether in a particular application police authorities are claiming exemption
under   8(1) of the RTI Act is a question which has to be determined by the police
authorities by taking appropriate decision by the competent authority. In event no such
decision is taken to claim exemption under Section 8 of the 2005 Act, the police authorities
are obliged to provide for copy of the FIR on an application under the RTI Act.

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Right to Information is a fundamental human right allowing access to public information and
is well established, both in legislation and in practice. It has been swiftly gaining popularity
in many parts of the world as an effective tool to strengthen participatory democracy,
promote good governance, check corruption and help ensure other rights thereby building an
open and accountable society. As a result, billions of people around the world now enjoy the
right to access information held by their governments and public agencies. Millions of people
around the world have utilized these laws to access public information, to expose and check
corruption, to enhance their ability to participate in public affairs, to improve public service
delivery and to protect other human rights, opportunities and justice.

GOOD GOVERNANCE
Good governance is fundamentally the combination of transparent and accountable
institutions, strong and competence, and a fundamental willingness to do the right thing.
These are the things that enable a government to deliver services to its people efficiently.
Good governance thus depends on interaction between stakeholders – leaders, political
parties, bureaucracy, parliament, judiciary, private sector, civil society, media – and their
interests; on capacity – human, technical, financial – of stakeholders to perform their role;
and on incentives & accountability – rules & norms that provide incentives, rewards &
sanctions to act in the public interest.9
Transparency, accountability, informed citizenry and reduction in corruption being the
critical elements of good governance, the Act looks forward to realization of greater good for
the larger spectrum of citizens. Right of access to information encompasses right to
participation, accountability and transparency and realization of the right holds the promise of
promoting and strengthening citizen led initiative for good governance. Access to information
holds centrality in realization of good governance helping mounting of citizen led demand for
transparency, accountability, predictability, responsiveness and participation. In other words,
it enhances the quality of citizen participation in governance from mere vote-casting to
involvement in the decision-making that affects his/her life.10

9
R. S. Chase and A. Anjum, Demand for Good Governance Stocktaking Report, available
at https://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/Resources/244362-
1193949504055/DFGGstocktakingReport.pdf.
10
R. Rani, RTI in Practice: Mapping its Effectiveness in Urban Slums of Delhi available
at https://rti.gov.in/Final_Report_on_RTI_by_Rekha_rani.pdf.

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Central Board of Secondary Education and Anr. v. Aditya Bandopadhyay and Ors.– When
trying to ensure that the right to information does not conflict with several other public
interests (which includes efficient operations of the Governments, preservation of
confidentiality of sensitive information, optimum use of limited fiscal resources, etc.), it is
difficult to visualise and enumerate all types of information which require to be exempted
from disclosure in public interest.

It was also observed in the aforesaid judgment that indiscriminate and impractical demands
or directions under the RTI Act for disclosure of all and sundry information (unrelated to
transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities and eradication of
corruption) would be counterproductive as it will adversely affect the efficiency of the
administration and result in the executive getting bogged down with the non-productive work
of collecting and furnishing information.

NEXUS BETWEEN RTI ACT 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”11
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: 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.

11
SP Gupta v. UOI (AIR) 1982 SC (149)

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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.
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.
The worldwide accepted indicators of good governance over the period of time are:
 Voice and accountability
 Political stability and absence of violence
 Government effectiveness
 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. 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

14
so that their view should be taken into the account. Governance which lacks these
components certainly turns into bad governance. The path without adoption of these
components leads to abuse of power, corruption, and aloofness in administration.
The result of good governance is development that “gives priority to the poor, advances the
cause of women, sustains the environment, and creates needed opportunities for employment
and other livelihoods”. UNDP defines good governance in terms of eight specific
characteristics i.e. participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive,
effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and the rule of law where participation,
transparency, legitimacy and responsiveness forms the pillars of good governance.12
In India, the concept of good governance was applied through the passing of RTI Act, 2005,
73rd and 74th constitutional amendment. Right to information is a basic requisite of good
governance and the Act has played a major role in good governance as it has helped in
making the system transparent and accountable.

Prashant Ramesh Chakkarwar v. UPSC– This case enumerated the problems in showing

evaluated answer books to candidates which inter alia included disclosing answer books
would reveal intermediate stages too, including the so-called ‘raw marks’ which would have
negative implications for the integrity of the examination system.

Democracy is all about people’s participation and empowerment. RTI Act has played a
significant role in strengthening democracy by promoting decentralization of power and good
governance. RTI Act gave the common people a defining power to shape the government
schemes and policies. Governance was no more an arbitrary privilege of select few. RTI Act
lent voice to the aspirations of ordinary citizens in issues of governance. The best way to deal
with all these challenges while promoting good governance is by making the Act redundant.
The governments, instead of waiting for the common people to seek information, must
voluntarily make all the information available to the people. It will not only promote good
governance but also increase the trust between government and the people it governs.13
RTI Act has lent voice to the aspirations of ordinary citizens in issues of governance. It gave
the common people a defining power to shape the government schemes and policies. It
empowered the people to question, audit, review, examine, and assess government acts and
decisions to ensure that these are consistent with the principles of public interests, good
12
S. K. SHARMA, T. RAJ, From Good Governance to Clean Governance, SocialSciences.in, available
at https://socialsciences.in/article/good-governance-clean-governance, last seen on 28/06/2011.
13
N. Hazra, RTI- A Right to Good Governance, Vol 57, Yojana Journal,  p.55 (2013) available
at https://yojana.gov.in/CMS/(S(veht3e2jij4dq4e55aotiu45))/PDF/Yojana/English/2013/Yojana%20January
%202013.pdf.

15
governance and justice. The greater the access of the citizen to the information, the greater
would be the responsiveness of the government to community needs. Without information,
the common man cannot adequately exercise his rights and responsibilities or make informed
choices. So Right to Information is the most effective instrument to check corruption where
the citizen has the right to take the initiatives to seek information from the state and thereby
promotes openness, transparency and accountability in administration by making the
government more open to public scrutiny. It also empowered the people to seek definite and
direct answer from the officials of their works or lack of it thus facilitating and encouraging
the participation of common people in the process of good governance. RTI Act
democratized the information and decentralized the power. Power no more remains confined
to select few, rather it was made available equally to all the citizens. Good governance is
characterised by transparency and accountability and the best way to ensure transparency and
accountability in governance is through increased and informed participation of people.14

RTI ACT AS A TOOL OF EMPOWERMENT FOR COMMON PEOPLE

Under RTI Act, citizens and citizen groups are empowered to approach the concerned
department and check the planning and development permissions in detail as to whether they
were given after giving due consideration to all factors or any undue compromise is made to
favour some groups. They are also empowered to approach the department to arrange
inspection of buildings or trade premises to find out whether the building activity or trade
activity is in accordance with the permissions and conditions. They can make appeals to the
authorities based on their actual monitoring of actual development and its deviation from
sanctions. Citizen/ citizen groups can also seek information on environmental protection data
from the public authority using the RTI Act. Citizens can invoke RTI Act and seek
information on the maintenance of the sites and regulation of development around the
structures/areas and even perform social audits to bring about any major differences between
the allowed and actual development. The citizens and citizen groups can make effective use
of the RTI Act to ensure that the self-employment benefits reach the appropriate target groups
laid down under the programme and that they are effectively utilised for the employment
generation of the unemployed. The RTI Act can be used as an effective tool in ensuring that
the unemployed and under-employed have got livelihood and acquire employment through
improved skills. In the absence of employment generation, this can help people in requesting

14
NIA team, The Right to Information Act, 2005- A Guide for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), available
at https://www.cgg.gov.in/publicationdownloads2a/RTI-ULBs.pdf

16
and demanding employment generation programmes from the ULB. The RTI Act can be used
as an effective tool in ensuring that the incentives proposed for organized women groups are
properly provided and the women groups are empowered and benefited socially and
economically. So, undoubtedly RTI Act serves as a great tool of empowerment for the
common people.15

RTI AS A TOOL IN PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

A.    PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION
The passing of 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment has become a mean for ensuring
effective governance since the twin aim of decentralization i.e. deepening democracy and
good governance can be achieved with active participation of the people.
People are biggest stakeholder in governance; they have a critical and crucial role to play in
promoting good governance in the country. Participation envisages involvement of the entire
society in governance. Both men and women are the cornerstone of good governance.
Representative democracy does not mean the rule of chosen few; it must take into interest of
all sections specially the most vulnerable sections in the society.16
Without people’s participation, the Right to Information will remain a non-
starter. Participation has a wide range of definitions. On the one side, some researchers take
participation to mean simply engaging with any particular activity; on the other side,
researchers define participation as a process through which people influence and share
control over development initiatives. Right to Information Act creates a connection between
people and government. Good governance requires that civil society has the opportunity to
participate during the formulation of development strategies and that directly affected
communities and groups should be able to participate in the design and implementation of
programmes and projects. Even where projects have a secondary impact on particular
localities or population groups, there should be a consultation process that takes their views
into account. Citizens who understand public affairs and what government is doing can voice
their opinion on issues that affect their lives and they can participate in the business of
government. Right to information facilities citizens in making political and economic choices
and thus strengthens democracy. RTI Act facilitates and encourages the participation of
common people in the process of promoting governance. Earlier people had the will, but did

Ibid
15

16
S. K. Borah, Right to Information Act: A Key to Good Governance, VOL -2, Issue- 2, International Journal of
Humanities and Social Science, p.11 (2013).

17
not have the way to take part in so-called ‘official affairs’. But RTI Act paved the way for
active participation of the common people in promoting good governance.17
People have showed increased interest in the affairs of government and sought information
regarding various issues affecting their lives and well-being. RTI Act empowered the people
to seek definite and direct answer from the officials of their works or lack of it. RTI
applications have annually increased by 8 to 10 times. A 2009 study estimates that in the
Act’s first three years alone, close to two million RTI requests were filed in different parts of
the country. Thus, there is massive use of the right to know. Of the millions of applications
for information, less than 5 per cent have been denied information under various exemption
categories. So, accountability has invariably led to efficiency and a sense of responsibility
among government officials.18

B.     ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY

Transparency is the corner stone of any good government. Public has right, to know about the
policies and programmes of the government. All communication of the government must be
opened to the public. Access to information is a great enabler of transparency and
transparency refers to availability of information to general public and clarity about
functioning of government institutions. The Right to Information act is intended to promote
accountability and transparency in government by making the process of government
decision making more open. Though some departments of the Union government are
exempted from this Act but the information can be sought if it is concerned with violation of
human rights. Even the information from the private authority can be sought only through the
controlling authority and controlling authority will send the notice to the institution
concerned under section 11 of the Act.19
Accountability is a key requirement of good governance. Without Accountability, the root of
any development failure cannot be traced. Not only the government, the private sector
institutions also be accountable to the people. Information is power and Right to information
act brings accountability and transparency in the administration. Accountability involves the
survival of a mechanism, which ensures that both political and officials are answerable for
their actions, performances and use of public resources. If they fail to maintain

17
M. K. Chaubey, Right to information-Various Dimensions, Regal Publications, New Delhi, p.24
18
M. K. Chaubey, Right to information-Various Dimensions, Regal Publications, New Delhi, p.24.
19
M. D. Surie, Right to Information in India: An Effective Tool to Tackle Corruption, available
at https://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2011/09/28/right-to-information-in-india-an-effective-tool-to-tackle-
corruption/, last seen on 28/09/2011.

18
accountability, their power and authority are finished. RTI Act empowered the people to seek
definite and officials of their works or lack of it. So, accountability always led to
effectiveness and sense of responsibility among government officials. The RTI Act is
sufficiently strong in its present form to even attack the roots of corruption. There will
forever be corruption at the lower levels as long as its seeds are sown at the highest level.
It has been realized by most of the countries through experience that greater access of the
citizens to information enhances the openness of government to community needs. In turn,
this facilitates immediate redressed of public grievances and thus improves feeling of
goodwill towards the government. Capitalists and democratic countries have a higher degree
of openness vis-a-vis authoritarian regimes; nowhere in the world is government functioning
totally open.20
In India, the government passed a landmark Right to Information Act in 2005. Since then,
social activists, civil society organizations, and ordinary citizens have effectively used the
Act to tackle corruption and bring greater transparency and accountability in the
government. We have had instances where numerous activists and groups have used this tool
to good effect ensuring the values of transparency and accountability are upheld. RTI as a
tool has been majorly used by organized citizen groups, activists and NGOs. As far as its
utilization by the individual citizen or the common man goes, the figures are far from
satisfactory. Trends tell us that the use of RTI by the common man has been sparse and not
up to the mark. This in itself is not a desired result as the RTI aims to empower the common
man, irrespective of his/her association with citizen group or NGOs.21
Right to information enables citizens to see how governments, those in public offices are
working. Public openly comes to know what is to be happened and what has happened.
In the absence of any public interest in seeking information, the RTI gets degenerated into
settling scores and mudslinging. Indiscriminate and impractical demands by applicants with
no relation to transparency, accountability and eradication of corruption are proving to be
counterproductive. The executive and government machinery gets tied to non-productive
work affecting the efficiency of administration.22
RTI has also brought transparency in the system. According to 2012 ranking of Transparency
International, India stood up at 94, out of 176 nations. The survey also revealed that 54%

20
V. Joseph, Right to Information on a Broad Convas, Volume 17, No.2, The Indian journal of public
administration, p.269 (2001).
21
 Ibid
22
Right to Information Act & Open Government Data, available at https://community.data.gov.in/right-to-
information-act-open-government-data/, last seen on 29/05/ 2015.

19
Indians paid bribe, at least once, to get things done. After enactment of this Act, many cases
of corruption came to light. From the Commonwealth Games to the 2G scam, RTI queries
have been the starting point of exposure in a score of recent cases of corruption. It is the most
powerful weapon in hands of common people to challenge the impenetrable fortress of
officialdom.23

RTI Information cannot be denied for Lack of Aadhaar Card

Case name: Vishwas Bhamburkar v. PIO, Housing & Urban Development Corporation
Ltd. (CIC, 2018)
In this recent case Vishwas Bhamburkar v. PIO, Housing & Urban Development Corporation
Ltd. taken up by the Chief Information Commission, Munirka, New Delhi (CIC), the CIC was
confronted with two centric issues under the Right to Information Act, 2005. One pertaining
to word limit in RTI application and the other relating to denial of information on lack of
producing identity proof  by the Applicant.
The CIC in the case held that the impugned application was not hit by any exception under
the Right to Information Act.  That the CPIO in the case raised suspicion about the
citizenship of the applicant without explaining why he was suspecting. There was nothing to
justify his suspicion. That the CPIO failed to justify the denial of information, as he could not
site any clause of exception under  Section 8 (exemption from disclosure of information)
or Section 9  (grounds for rejection to access in certain cases).

Information can’t be denied on the Ground that File is missing

Case name: Shahzad Singh v. Department of Posts (CIC, 2018)
In the case, the CIC noted that the Respondent Department’s claim that concerned files were
are not traceable proves the fact they had it in their possession, which binds them to provide
the information by searching the same. The Commission also observed that frequent
reference to ‘missing files’ as an excuse to deny the information is a major threat to
transparency, accountability and also major reason for violation of Right to Information Act,
2005. Millions of RTI applications might have been rejected by PIOs on this ground during
the last 11 years of RTI regime.

23
A. Chaba, S. Shukla & S. Kalra, Right to Information: Step towards transparent governance, available
at https://cic.gov.in/CIC-Articles/ArunaChhaba-01.htm.

20
With “missing files excuse” being around, it will be futile to talk about implementation
of Right to Information Act, 2005. The claim of ‘missing files’ indicates possibility of
deliberate destruction of records to hide the corruption, fraud or immoral practices of public
servants, which is a crime under Indian Penal Code.

IT Returns is “Personal Information”, not under the Purview of RTI Act

Case name: Girish Ramchandra Deshpande vs. Central Information Commission & ors.
(Supreme Court, 2012)
In this case, the Apex Court had held that the details disclosed by a person in his income tax
returns are “personal information” which stand exempted from disclosure under clause (j)
of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, unless involves a larger public interest and the Central Public
Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the Appellate Authority is
satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information.

EFFECTS OF RTI ACT IN PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

As social activists, civil society organizations, and ordinary citizens have effectively used the
Act, the law is increasingly being able to tackle high profile corruption. With corruption
being viewed as one of the biggest obstacles, an empirical study concluded that the RTI
negatively impacted corruption and its statistical impact on curbing corruption was quite
significant. The study conducted in 20 states found that the Act has reduced the corruption in
an average state by 18.5%. Findings of a national level survey jointly conducted by the
Transparency International and the Centre for Media Studies revealed that India’s economy
in the last three years has grown at unprecedented high rate of 8 – 9% per annum due to
decline in corruption and malpractices. Thus, it shows a strong and positive impact of RTI on
transparency and accountability of the Government.24

Bar Councils Liable to Provide Information under RTI Act

Case name: Harinder Dhingra Vs. Bar Associations, Rewari, Faridabad, Punchkula
(CIC, 2016)
In the case, the Appellant sought information regarding the number of complaints against
the advocates, how many cases were disposed of, number of advocates who had violated the
provisions of Advocates Act.
24
S. K. Borah, Right to Information Act: A Key to Good Governance, VOL -2, Issue- 2, International Journal of
Humanities and Social Science, p.11 (2013).

21
The CIC in the case held that the Bar Council is a statutory body constituted under
Advocates Act, 1961 to protect the ethical standards of Advocates and admonish the
members for misconduct. The information about this core function of Bar Council cannot be
denied to the appellant as it does not attract any exemption under the RTI Act.

For many, particularly India’s poor and disadvantaged; the simple act of filing an RTI
application is empowering, and often leads to tangible results. In 2010, K.S. Sagaria, a
resident of Kushmal village in rural Orissa, filed an RTI application seeking information on
the number of ponds constructed in his village under the government’s national wage
employment scheme. The information he received was revealing: the ponds had never been
constructed even though money had been allocated and spent. Following complaints from
villagers, the local administration was forced to take action and suspend the officials involved
in the pond scam.25
Civil society organizations have also played an important role in raising public awareness
about RTI and assisting citizens in filing requests for information. State-wide tours are held
for awareness generation among people. Public addresses are organized in many towns and
programmes are arranged specially for college students. Posters, banners and folders are
printed and distributed in thousands. All this have resulted in the awakening of the citizens
and have made them aware of their fundamental Right to Information. For example, Delhi-
based NGO Satark Nagarik Sangathan (SNS) runs an information centre to assist local
residents and slum dwellers to file RTI applications and has successfully campaigned for
improvements in the quality of public services including water, sanitation, the public
distribution system, and even the performance of local elected representatives.26
In addition to such initiatives, the law is increasingly being used to tackle high profile
corruption. Much of the information regarding corruption in the allocation of tenders and
contracts for last year’s Commonwealth Games was unearthed using RTI. In 2010, a series of
RTI applications filed by the Housing and Land Rights Network, a Delhi-based NGO,

25
S. K. Borah, Right to Information Act: A Key to Good Governance, VOL -2, Issue- 2, International Journal of
Humanities and Social Science, p.11 (2013).

26
A. Malekar, NRIs too have the right to information, available at https://infochangeindia.org/right-to-
information/features/without-peoples-participation-the-right-toinformation-will-remain-a-non-starter.html last
seen on 19/11/2008.

22
revealed that the Delhi government had diverted funds from its social welfare programs for
infrastructure development under the Commonwealth Games.27
TII’s program, Pahal, has been bringing good governance to remote villages, by easing
information flow to rural areas, facilitating government service delivery, and strengthening
local government bodies. Through tools such as social audits and citizens’ charters, the
program ensures that government money is spent on equitable development. Working with
TII and local allies, villagers have recovered money lost to corruption and enforced fines on
officials who solicited bribes. Villagers are renewing democracy by participating in gram
sabhas (village assemblies), running for elected office, and demanding accountability.
In the model district of Mochha, Chhattisgarh, people are using RTI to secure employment,
scholarships and pensions for the elderly. They also pressured government doctors and school
teachers to show up at work regularly. Villagers in Madhubani district, Bihar used RTI to
expose a solar-light scam, leading to charges against 200 corrupt officials.
If this Act reaches every village and every household, it has potential to check corruption to
an extent of 80 – 85%. Due to corruption, only 10 percent could reach the real beneficiaries
of the poverty alleviation programmes earlier. Rest of the money percolated to the purses of
corrupt officers and politicians. Now, due to the Act of Right to Information, the poor
villagers will get their due share in the development process. The quality of project works has
started to improve after the Act.
One simple yet powerful example of how effective RTI can be is reflected in this story of a
slum-dweller who wanted a ration card. The protagonist was told that he would have to pay a
bribe of Rs 2,000 to obtain a new ration card. But he just went ahead and applied for the
ration card without giving any bribe or grovelling in front of officials for pity. The slum-
dweller, however, decided to become the enforcer of good governance. He found out in how
many weeks people who paid bribes got their ration cards. He waited for an extra four weeks
and then applied for information under RTI. Using the simple format and with a Rs 10
application fee he delivered it to the PIO at the Food and Supply office. He asked up to which
date applications for ration cards had been cleared and the details of the progress of his
application. This shook up the corrupt officials, since this would be written confirmation that
they had given ration cards to others who had applied after him, which would be conclusive
evidence that they had no justification for delaying his card. The ration card was given to him
immediately. No bribes, no endless visits and no begging before the corrupt. Our RTI-
empowered citizen was able to enforce the supremacy of the citizen by using RTI.
27

23
The larger use of RTI has been seen in areas of women empowerment, youth development,
democratic rights, rights and entitlements of the underprivileged, abuse of executive
discretion and strengthening of participative and good governance. From purpose focused
beginnings amply and aptly shown by the political and social activist Aruna Roy and others,
today it is also used by politicians for pure political fights, agents of corporate for commercial
interests and ‘information businessmen’ clothed as activists for blackmail and ulterior
motives. In the absence of any public interest in seeking information, the RTI gets
degenerated into settling scores and mudslinging. The executive and government machinery
gets tied to non-productive work affecting the efficiency of administration. RTI got evolved
to empower the dalits, minorities, backward classes, the economically weaker sections and
vulnerable groups. Today it is tilting towards exposing politicians and government officials.
There is a variance from the fundamental preamble of the Right to Information Act.

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.28

28
Kumar Hemant, Contributing Editor, Lawyers Update, vol. XXI, Part 8, August, 2015

24
 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.
 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.

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

25
through RTI. Currently, the RTI Act is passing through the decisive phase, much more needs
to be done to facilitate its growth and development.
The right to information act is an agent of good governance. The RTI makes administration
more accountable to the people. The people become aware of administration and give them
an opportunity to take part in decision making process. The RTI promoted democratic
ideology by promoting openness and transparency in the administration. The best way to deal
with all these challenges while promoting good governance is by making the act redundant.
The governments, instead of waiting for the common people to seek the information, must
voluntary make all the information available to the people. It will not only promote good
governance but also increase the trust between government and the people it governs. Thus it
can be rightly mentioned that Right to Information act is an agent of good governance. It
makes administration more accountable to the people. It makes people aware of
administration and gives them an opportunity to take part in decision making process. It
promoted democratic ideology by promoting openness and transparency in the
administration. It reduces the chances of corruption and abuse of authority by public servants.
Since the act is prepared for people’s interest, hence it success also depends on how they
exercise the act.
Moreover, there is need of active participation from people, NGO’s, civil society groups,
coordination among RTI officials, integrity among government departments and political will
from government and elected leaders to make this act to be more successfully followed and
implemented. There is a growing push for transparency in governance and the Right to
Information (RTI) Act and activism surrounding it has helped to reveal information aimed at
holding officials accountable. In other words, it is necessary to make the information system
RTI friendly and to maintain transparency.

REFERENCES
1. Banerjee, R. (2012).Right to Information and Good Governance. Arise publishers: New
Delhi.p.1.
2. Borah, S. K. (2013).Right to Information Act: A Key to Good Governance. International
Journal of Humanities and Social Science: VOL -2, Issue- 2 p.11.
3. Shilpa. (2013).Right to Information Act: A tool to Strength Good Governance and
Tackling Corruption. International journal of Humanities and Social Science invention: p.46.

26
4. Borah, Sri Keshbananda, RTI: a key to good governance, International Journal of
Humanities and Social Science Invention, ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722, Volume 2 Issue2.

27