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Let RTI debate play out: Congress by Smita Gupta

The Congress has decided to adopt a cautious approach to suggestions coming from within the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that the Right to Information (RTI) Act be re-examined as it affects government functioning. On Friday, party spokesperson Manish Tewari — in response to a question whether changes were being contemplated in the seminal Act — stressed it was important for the ongoing debate on the issue “to play itself out.”

Mr. Tewari said there was a vigorous debate on, with the entire spectrum of views on display. “There is no denying that the RTI has been an instrument of empowerment,” he said, adding, “but people are also beginning to ask whether its efficacy is being blunted by the way it has begun to impinge on governance. So let's wait for the debate to play out.”

The debate in the Congress comes in the wake of concerns expressed by Union Law Minister Salman Khursheed and, before him, Corporate Affairs Minister M. Veerappa Moily, at the way the RTI was beginning to adversely affect governance. Mr. Khursheed, while clarifying that there was no proposal to amend the RTI Act yet, recently said it needed to be looked at afresh. For, misuse of the Act was affecting “institutional efficacy and efficiency,” with even the bureaucracy becoming reluctant to record its opinion.

A “balance,” therefore, needed to be maintained between transparency and accountability and institutional efficiency, he had said, adding that, for instance, it was not right to claim under the RTI papers “which are part of internal communications ahead of a Cabinet decision until such time that a decision is finally taken.”

With these statements coming after the recent controversy over documents accessed from the Prime Minister's Office on the 2G spectrum through the RTI, plunging the government into a crisis, the Congress is concerned about how to put the genie back into the bottle, but is clearly loath to make any pronouncements on it, given that it counts the enactment of the law as one of its great achievements.

Finding a balance

Later, party sources said that since it was only six years since the RTI had been enacted, the Congress did not wish to “prematurely impose a party view” on the subject — it preferred to wait. A functionary said diluting the RTI was not the solution — he believed that over a period of time, an equilibrium would be found: “In a country as diverse and huge as ours, the government needs to be held to account,” he said.

But even as he pointed out that “the doctrine of candour is intrinsic to good governance,” he said that “if recent events lead to those in government not putting down their thoughts in file notings” for fear any comment could be read as mala fide, decision-making would simply slow down.