RTI under siege - OrissaPOST

India’s Right to Information Act has long served as a critical mechanism for citizen accountability, transforming the relationship between the state and the governed by exposing corruption and ensuring transparency in public spending. However, this foundational democratic tool is currently facing severe erosion through legislative and judicial shifts that prioritize privacy over transparency. The recent Digital Personal Data Protection Act, by removing the public interest override, effectively allows officials to withhold information citing privacy, thereby shifting the balance of power from citizens back to the state and creating a default culture of secrecy. This legal regression is compounded by institutional weaknesses and past judicial precedents that have redefined public servant data as exempt from disclosure, regardless of its relevance to public duties. Consequently, Information Commissions are struggling with massive backlogs and vacancies, further suffocating the act’s effectiveness. The implication is a dangerous normalization of opacity, where the presumption of openness is replaced by a presumption of closure, significantly weakening the deterrence against arbitrary state power and corporate-government collusion. To restore democratic equilibrium, urgent measures must focus on reinstating the public interest override and ensuring that information accessible to lawmakers remains accessible to all citizens. Strengthening institutional capacity through timely appointments and proactive disclosure mandates is essential, alongside robust protections for activists and whistleblowers. Ultimately, defending the RTI Act is not merely about procedural reform but about preserving the fundamental principle that the state belongs to the people, requiring renewed collective vigilance to prevent the right to know from becoming the right to deny.

Source: orissapost.com
Published on 2025-11-14

RTI under siege - OrissaPOST

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