THE ROLE OF INFORMATION

COMMISSIONERS IN THE 15 YEAR RTI

REGIME

ROHIT BARUAH
20MCAL20
 INTRODUCTION

• Association for Democratic Reforms case is the forerunner to the right

to know about the candidate standing for the election has been brought
within the sweep of Article 19 (1) (a).

• By several other decisions including Bennett Coleman & Co. v. Union

of India, S.P.Gupta v. Union of India and more particularly Centre for
PIL v. Union of India the Supreme Court supported and accelerated the
movement for a national law on freedom of information.
 SIGNIFANCE OF THE
STUDY

More than 2.2

lakh Right to
information cases The assessment
are pending at Even the websites found that on
the Central and of 3 ICs -Bihar, average, the CIC
State Information Madhya Pradesh takes 388 days
Commissions (more than one
and Nagaland -were year) to dispose
(ICs),
not accessible of an appeal.
during the
lockdown.
 FUNCTIONAL FRAMEWORK OF
INFORMATION
Obligations COMMISSIONS INDIA
of the public authorities

• Records management [Section 4(1) (a)]

• Proactive disclosure of information [Section 4(i)(b), (c)]
• Dissemination of information [Section 4(2), (3), (4)]
• Designation of information officers (Section 5)
• Implementation of decisions of the information commissions [Section 19(7) subject to
writs]
• Information systems and annual returns [Section 25(2)]

Obligations of the information commissions

• To receive and enquire into complaints [Section 18(1)]

• To give notice of decisions, including any right of appeal, to the complainant and the
public authority [Section 19(9)]
• To decide on appeals in accordance with procedure [Section 19(10)]
• To prepare a report on the implementation of the provisions of the Act [Section
25(1)].
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE
INFORMATION COMMISSSIONS IN
IMPLEMENTING THE RTI ACT
1. Uncertainty in defining the status of commercial ventures created by
public authorities
 In the case of R Balwani v. Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) (May
2007), the IFCI was held to be a public authority even when there was no direct
shareholding by the government whilst the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) was
holding 23.53% of the shares.

 Subsequently in the case of M K Kamra v. International Leasing & Financial Services

(il&fs) (February 2008), the CIC was dealing with the issue as to whether il&fs is a
public authority, considering that 43% of the shares of IL&FS are held by public
authorities such as LIC, the State Bank of India (SBI), the Central Bank of India
(CBI) and the Unit Trust of India (UTI) and of the 15 directors, two are from lic and

one each of SBI, CBI and UTI.

II. DRASTIC CHANGES PROPUNDED BY THE RTI AMENDMENT ACT 2019

MAKING CHIEF IC A No place to

Making ICs
SUBORDINATE TO Non-
subordinate to
GOVERNMENT bureaucratic
CIC
Commissioners

Centre’s Control The Residue

over State ICs Power
 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION
COMMISSIONERS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

4.1 PROBLEMS FACED BY THE INFORMATION

COMMISSIONS
 While it is generally true that appealing to an information
commissioner is less expensive and intimidating than taking
a case to court, it is not always free. In Ireland, for example,
one must pay up to €150 to appeal to the commissioner.
 In a study based on a descriptive statistical analysis of the
U.K. Information Commissioner’s case log, the Campaign
for Freedom of Information found that the severe delays in
the Information Commissioner’s Office investigations of
appeal cases “undermine the FOI Act’s effectiveness and
public confidence in it”
4.2. Examples of successful information commissions

In the United Kingdom, failure by an administrative office to

comply with a decision notice issued by the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) places it in a position to be held in
contempt of court.
Some of the Scottish Information Commissioner’s case decisions
have also been groundbreaking including one that resulted in the
release of patient mortality rates of individual heart surgeons in
Scotland, a category of information that had not been released in
any country prior. Another ruling by the Scottish Information
Commissioner resulted in disclosure of information to a group that
campaigns to keep rural public schools open; when the local
council refused to give the requesters some of the information they
wanted, they took their case to the commissioner who agreed that
most of it should be released.
Conclusion and Suggestions
 The oversight body is an essential component of ATI law enforcement
because it contributes to the solution of implementation problems.
The primary function oversight bodies play is to resolve appeals and
complaints made by information requesters when information is
withheld from them or they face other issues of non-compliance on
the part of the administration.
 An information commissioner’s effectiveness in fulfilling his/her role
depends in part on the powers it has at its disposal and the
independence it is granted by law and in practice. Many experts on ATI
argue that an oversight body should have the power to issue binding
decision
 An information commissioner’s level of independence is understood to
be important to the body’s ability to operate autonomously and fairly.