New RTI rules could put whistleblowers at risk, say activists

THE DRAFT RULE COMES AT A TIME WHEN NEW DATA CONFIRMS THAT 65 RTI APPLICANTS HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE 2005, WHEN THE LAW CAME INTO FORCE

The government will soon notify new Right to Information (RTI) rules, which can put a whistleblower's life in danger and allow appeals to be withdrawn, as per its commitment in the Supreme Court.

Activists say this will weaken the only law that empowers citizens to question the government.

The Centre told the Supreme Court earlier this year that it was in the process of framing new rules for regulating the transparency law in an appeal filed by information watchdog Central Information Commission (CIC) with the apex court.

The CIC had challenged the Delhi high court order nullifying its 2007 regulation, saying they were in violation of the RTI Act. In absence of any regulation, the CIC was finding regulating appeals difficult and approached the Supreme Court for redress.

During hearing, the Centre gave an undertaking that new rules in consultation with the CIC will be notified soon. The government has also assured court that it will put in place a fresh set of RTI rules to include some of the provisions contained in the 2007 CIC regulations. The case will be heard on May 2.

The draft rule issued by the department of personnel and training has raised a lot of hackles among RTI activists as it comes at a time when new data confirms that 65 RTI applicants have been killed since 2005, when the law came into force, and over 400 assaulted. “The most dangerous aspect of the new rule is abatement (lapse without action being taken) in case of death of the applicant. This is in clear violation of the CIC resolution of September 2011 that spoke of proactive disclosure of information sought by the applicant after his or her death,” said Ventakesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

Another area of concern was regarding a provision that allowed an applicant to withdraw appeal before the CIC.