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Transforming Governance: 2nd ARC Recommendations for RTI Act

Explore how the 2nd ARC recommendations aim to strengthen the RTI Act, including capacity building, proactive disclosure, and empowering citizens for better governance.

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Strengthening of the Information Commissions: The commission recommended strengthening the Central and State Information Commissions (CIC and SICs) by increasing their autonomy and powers, as well as providing them with the necessary resources to carry out their functions effectively.
Capacity Building: The ARC recommended capacity building of public authorities to ensure effective implementation of the RTI Act, including regular training programs for government officials and the development of user-friendly guidelines and procedures.
Timely Disposal of RTI Applications: The ARC recommended that public authorities must be made accountable for the timely disposal of RTI applications, and that penalties should be imposed for delay or non-compliance.
Proactive Disclosure of Information: The commission recommended that public authorities should make proactive disclosure of information to the public, in order to reduce the need for individuals to file RTI applications.
Exemption of Sensitive Information: The commission recommended that the provisions regarding the exemption of sensitive information under the RTI Act should be reviewed. The commission recommended repealing the Official Secrets Act, 1923 with National Security legislation which would provide bare minimum exemptions under the RTI.
Oath of transparency: The commission recommended that the Oath of secrecy by ministers should be replaced with an oath of transparency.
Improving the Appeal Mechanism: The commission recommended that the appeal mechanism under the RTI Act should be strengthened and made more effective, in order to ensure that individuals who are dissatisfied with the response to their RTI application can seek time-bound redressal.

The commission emphasized the importance of the RTI Act as a tool for good governance and recommended that it should be widely promoted and implemented in a manner that benefits the citizens of India.

Along with 2nd ARC recommendations the massive awareness campaigns for RTI, institutionalisation of whistle-blower protection act, punishment mechanism for filing frivolous or ill-intended RTI applications, and RTI call centres for quicker dissemination of information are the steps which are needed to be taken to further improve and strengthen implementation of the RTI Act.

Success story

The Fair price shop becomes really Fair

An 18 year old student from Saldi Village used RTI to nail the ration shop which was not distributing food grains to ration card holders. His persistence led to mandatory stock disclosure by fair price shops in Gujarat.

The Problem

Bhadresh Wamja was then a second year B.Com student from Saldi village, about 225 km from Gandhinagar, wondered why the two fair price shops in his village never seemed to have enough stocks of wheat, rice and kerosene. One day, when Bhadresh visited one of the shops, he was told by the shopkeeper that he had not been getting any stock of wheat, rice or kerosene from the government for the past several months. That prompted Bhadresh to use RTI ‘in the larger interest of the village’.

Use of RTI

By coincidence, a leading newspaper of Gujarat printed a chart showing the amount of food grains and kerosene that families of Above Poverty Line (APL) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) should receive every month, along with a table giving the prices per kg. Bhadresh filed an RTI application to the tehsildar of Lilia Taluka on 11 February 2011, seeking information on supplies that his village’s fair price shop has been receiving every month, between August 2010 and January 2011. The tehsildar ordered the shopkeeper to disclose the details within 15 days. The shopkeeper did not oblige. On advice of Pankti Jog, a member of the Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP) in Ahmedabad, Bhadresh lodged a police complaint. He also visited the office of the District Supply Officer (DSO) where he found out that the shopkeeper was supplied with 8,306 kg of wheat as regular supply and 1,599 kg as extra wheat between August 2010 and January 2011. Records showed that the shopkeeper had supplied the entire stock to ration card holders. Random inspection by the tehsildar who visited Saldi, revealed that nine of the ten ration card holders had not received even a single kilogram of grain during the previous six months. He was forced to write a report against the shopkeeper, and the District Supply Officer ordered an inquiry.

The Success

Bhadresh’s campaign propelled the Chief Information Commissioner of Gujarat to send a letter on 17 February 2011, to the Secretary of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, to order proactive disclosure of ration supplies not only at tahsildar offices, but also at fair price shops across the state.
The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department in an order, dated 4 March 2011, asked all tehsildars and fair price shop licensees in Gujarat to proactively disclose ration supply information on the walls of fair price shops, every week.

The RTI has contributed in effective redressal of grievances of the citizens in India. It has also ushered in an era of transparency, openness and accountability in the governance process in India. 2nd ARC recommendations along with other measures to improve implementation of the RTI Act can go a long way in realising the dream of a welfare state as envisaged by our constitution makers.