A former information commissioner has written to the President revealing a very disturbing trend. It appears the Union government is determined to thwart the efforts of the Central Information Commission by intimidating it through the slapping of writ petitions, following the global method of strategic lawsuits against public participation. The strategy is designed to manacle the commission from ferreting out information sought by the public under the Right to Information Act (RTI) and disseminating it for the edification of society and towards exposing wrong deeds by organisations, mostly of the government. Sridhar Acharyulu has made a significant expose of the legal tactics employed in targeting the CIC and public-spirited citizens who seek vital information by tying them down in lawsuits. The filing of around 1,700 lawsuits, as stated by the former commissioner, clearly defeats the very purpose of the CIC, whose help the citizens seek to ask for such information as to the identities and dues of willful defaulters of bank loans or foreign donors of local NGOs.
What is particularly disturbing is that the CIC, following the orders of the Supreme Court, had sought of the RBI the disclosure of the names of willful defaulters of bank loans. It was at once assailed by being made the first respondent in two writ petitions by the RBI challenging the order. In effect, the RBI is flying in the face of the authority of the top court using the patently false excuse of national security concerns to not disclose the details sought. The sharing of such information with citizens is a true test of democracy. By denying vital information, financial arms of the government are simply hiding behind bureaucratic obduracy and sheer unwillingness to be called to account.
