An authentic interpretation of the RTI Act, 2005
14 Dec, 2016The Indian RTI Act as passed by parliament has been ranked third worldwide, but is number 66 in terms of implementation! I have written this ebook to interpret the words of the law passed by Parliament. My co-author is Mr. Pralhad Kachare who is a bureaucrat and was heading the RTI training cell at YASHADA.
A unique feature of this book is that its draft was shared with former Chief Information Commissioner Mr. Satyananda Mishra and Mr. Toby Mendel who is one of the leading international experts in transparency laws. They gave their views on the interpretations and I incorporated most of them. After that there were some differences in interpretations and nuances which have been mentioned in the footnotes in the book. It is heartening that there is a broad consensus. I believe this is the most authentic interpretation of the RTI Act.
Many decisions presently being followed do not reflect the words of the Act passed by parliament, and the law is slowly being amended by misinterpretation. The bad decisions given by PIOs, First appellate authorities, commissions and judges are being followed everywhere. Right to Information is being slowly disfigured into a Right to Denial of Information. Consequently, this fundamental right is being constricted. Most of the decisions violate the Supreme Court’s earlier pronouncements given in the Raj Narain , SP Gupta, ADR and Rajagopal cases# . This book could empower citizens and is a plea to all adjudicators to follow the words of the law.
Presently, the ebook can be downloaded free of cost. at www.satyamevajayate.info
A RTI competition is also being launched to create greater awareness about the legal interpretations of the law with a first prize of Rs. 25000/. Details are available at the same website. Consider reviewing this book and encouraging your friends to participate in the competition.
The hard copy of the book is available on Amazon.
# All were given before the RTI Act was implemented in 2005
Shailesh Gandhi