New RTI rules could endanger whistleblowers

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notify new Right to Information (RTI) rules, which can put a whistleblower's life in danger and allow appeals to be withdrawn, as per its commitment in the Supreme Court.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

“We would finalise the rules very soon,” a senior government official said. The case will be heard on May 2.

The draft rule issued by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) 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 information seekers assaulted.

“The most dangerous aspect of the new rule is abatement (lapse without any 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 pro-active disclosure of information sought by the applicant after his or her death. The new rule will nullify the 2011 resolution,” said Ventakesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

Another concern expressed by activists was regarding a provision that allowed an applicant to withdraw his or her appeal before CIC. “It would provide another tool to persons against whom information is being sought to pressurise applicants to withdraw appeal. It can also cause harassment of applicant by authorities,” said Anjali Bhardwaj of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), which has asked the government to drop the provision.