Right to Information Act, 2005 in India: A Decadal Experience

Abstract

Right to Information (RTI) Act emerged as a powerful instrument for taming corruption in the functioning of public authorities by promoting transparency and accountability. The Act has completed ten years but the challenges hindering the successful implementation of the Act are still looming large. The Act is slowly moving away from its goal owing to many factors, such as lack of awareness, improper maintenance of records, poor compliance to public disclosure of information mentioned under Section 4 of the Act, inconvenient fee depositing mechanism, lack of sustained training mechanism for employees, misuse of the Act, pendency of appeals before Information Commissions and lack of legislative measures for protection of whistleblowers. For making the Act a success, it is essential to conduct massive awareness campaigns for citizens, to maintain proper official records for facilitating provision of information under the Act, ensuring suo motu disclosure of information mentioned under Section 4 of the Act, use of information and communication technology in the implementation of the Act, making available convenient fee depositing options, conducting training programmes for officials involved in the implementation of the Act, and, finally, enacting a strong whistleblowers’ protection Act.