Talking with newspersons in Ahmedabad on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the Act, which they said has “helped marginalized sections of India bring in major changes in their life by seeking information from government sources on disbursement under different schemes promulgated from time to time for their benefit”, MAGP campaigners, Harinesh Pandya and Pankti Jog, also regretted that the Gujarat Information Commission has lately begun to show lack of transparency.
“The Gujarat Information Commission website had put up details of the cases pending with the commission, which is the highest authority in the state to decide on RTI applications. The details were removed just a week back for unknown reasons”, the activists said, adding, “According to the information we have been able to obtain from the commission, there are around 8,800 cases still pending to be cleared by the commission. However, it is difficult to understand why couldn’t the exact number be put up on the website, with details like the number of years they are pending and the reasons for pending cases.”
When contacted, a senior commission official tried to reason that the details were “removed” because the commission was in the process of revamping the website. However, the campaigners suggested, the commission should show proactive disclosure, by which it swears. “It is unfortunate that the general administration department (GAD) of the Gujarat government should send details of implementation of the RTI Act to the commission every three months, but it never does. The commission on its part has also not asked why such indifference is there on the part of the commission.”
Significantly, this was done at a time when the Commonweath Human Rights Initiative, in its new report, "The Use of Information Laws in India", has taken strong exception to the fact that the Gujarat Information Commission is one of the few states which have been refusing to upload their annual reports on their website. Other major states have not done it ever since 2006, when the Act became operational in all the states, are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The activists said, their latest efforts suggest that there are ways to protect the whistleblowers from brutal attacks at a time when powerful interests are refusing to part with information. “The first step could be that the applicants report to the RTI helpline 09924085000, run by the MAGP, regarding the threats, records voice complaint. It can send a fax message. This would help the RTI helpline to document the case and send details of the threat to the information commissioner, the district superintendent of police, and respective police stations with a demand to ensure protection of citizen.”
The MAGP’s next step is to guide the whistleblower to file a complaint with the police station, and also with commission under Section 18 of RTI Act. The complaint should be made in writing. “We have found that this method has been of great help and we were able to save two dozen lives in Gujarat”, the activists said, adding, “This helps the Information Commission, upon receiving complaint, to send a letter the police and the respective department, to which the RTI application has been addressed.”
This also helps the helpline to fax details to the district collector and the respective department to immediately put info into public domain. “This is followed up by the “demand to put information in public domain. If required similar RTI application are filed by the RTI activist in various parts of city, state, or country”, the activists said, adding, “At the same time, it is essential to use the social media and email information to as many persons as possible as soon as threat is received.”
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