Requirement to submit Proof of Citizenship at the time of submitting RTI Application under Odisha RTI Rules is ultra vires and draconian- Why?
Pradip Pradhan
Requirement to submit Proof of Citizenship at the time of submitting RTI Application under Odisha RTI Rules is ultra vires and draconian- Why?
Dear friends,
Section 3 of RTI Act stipulates that “all citizens shall have the right to information”. Under Section 6(2) of the Act says “An applicant making request for information shall not be required to give any reason for requesting the information or any other personal details except those that may be necessary for contacting him. It means any person seeking information under RTI is not required to submit anything else than contact address by which the information sought would reach him/her.
Recognising this mandate of of the law, neither Central Govt. nor any State Government except Odisha has made any provision for proof of citizenship to be submitted by the applicant along with RTI Application.
Govt. of Odisha’s naked defiance against RTI Act
Unhappily enough, Odisha RTI Rules, 2005 framed by State Govt. of Odisha seems to be the odd man out in the whole gamut of RTI instruments made in the country. Apparently to comply Section 27 of the RTI Act, the State Govt. has framed Rules called Odisha RTI Rules, 2005. Rule-2(e) has defined “identity” as the evidence of his ‘citizenship like an electoral photo identity card, a passport or any other document which can satisfy the authority about the citizenship of the person’ . It means any person seeking information has to submit his or her proof of identity like voter Identity card or a passport to any public authority under State Government. Again it has been ordained that if the PIO is not satisfied with the document produced by the RTI-Applicant purportedly as proof of citizenship, he may reject the application on that very ground as permissible under Form-C prescribed under the said State Rules. This very ground occurring at column (iii) of Form-C is worded thus- “your identity is not satisfactory”. This is the greatest violation of RTI Act, especially its Section 6(2) by the State Govt of Orissa.
Problems encountered by Information-seekers in the offices of State Govt.
Being armed with such a handy provision, the PIOs having a dubious past are found rejecting a number of RTI Applications on so many flimsy grounds including a funny one- that photocopy of voter Identity card attached as proof of citizenship is not visible. Such PIOs take such absurd plea when they intend to reject RTI applications seeking sensitive information related to scam, corruption or irregularities. The students below 18 years of age and having no voter card cannot apply for information in Orissa because they can’t produce any proof of citizenship identity along with RTI application. Submission of school/ college identity card as proof is left to the discretion of PIO to accept or reject it, Big chunks of population who have neither voter ID nor passport are deprived of their right to access information under RTI Act though they are citizens of the country.
Intention of State bureaucracy behind framing the identity Provision
The hidden agenda of the state bureaucracy is to restrict numbers of RTI Applications to be submitted and also to deprive the people of their right to access information under the RTI Act. Secondly, submission of a voter card or a passport will expose the personal identity of RTI applicant. It has been observed that with the identity of RTI Applicants getting exposed, the vested interest groups including the corrupt officials are found reaching to the concerned RTI Applicants to pursue and pressurize him to withdraw RTI Application in lieu of some gift or bribe. If the RTI applicant, honest and true to his intentions, refuses to give in, he would be threatened with dire consequence , even beaten up, and subjected to false cases etc. It is ironical, while there is a move afoot at the national level to enact a law for protection of whistleblowers, the State Govt. of Orissa has been insisting on exposure of the identity of RTI applicants who are potential whistleblowers.
Decision of Central Information Commission
While deciding a Complaint Case (
File No; CIC/AD/C/2011/001736 on 11.1.2012,, Ms. Annapurna Dixit, Central
Information Commissioner observed, “there is no provision in the
RTI Act to seek identification of a citizen who seeks
information from any Public Authority. The PIO of the Company is warned not to
seek such identification in future u/s 3 of the RTI Act, which stipulates that
all citizens shall have the Right to Information, as it would be construed by
the Commission as deemed denial”. The fact of the case is that an RTI Applicant
Mr. M Rangarajan of Bangalore had sought information about the provision
of retirement benefits of the employees from the PIO, M/s. Braithwaite
and Company Ltd under Ministry of Railways, 5, Hide Road, Kolkata - 700 043.
But the said PIO quoting Section 3 of the Act demanded the proof
of citizenship identity of the applicant before he would
be able to disclose the
information sought. Then the aggrieved applicant approached the Central
Information Commission with a complaint against the said illegal order of the
PIO. Having heard the parties to the case, the CIC Mrs.Dixit passed the above
order quoted above.
Role of Odisha Information Commission
But tragically enough, in Odisha blatantly anti-RTI and anti-people provisions are being upheld and justified by Odisha Information Commissioners during the hearing of the cases and as well in course of their address in public meetings. The only lame excuse they unabashedly proffer in defense of the above anti-citizen Rules is that the State Govt. has framed it. While saying so, the Commissioners blissfully ignore Section 25(5) of the Act, which authorizes the Commission to recommend to any public authority including the State Govt. to take steps for removing any deviation from and effectuating conformity to the letter and spirit of Act. Though more than 6 years and 9 months has passed since Odisha Information Commission started functioning , it has not made a single recommendation to remove the anti-citizen and ultra vires Odisha RTI Rules 2005. Of all, the Compulsory Application Form, proof of citizenship and prohibitive mode of payment of application fee are the worst nuisances wrought against every citizen’s right to information, and woefully enough, Odisha Information Commission has been sleeping over it at tandem with the dubious intentions of the State Government.
Regards
Pradip Pradhan
M-99378-43482
Date- 24.8.12