History of RTI Act

History of Right to Information

"The Real 'Swaraj' will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of capacity by all to resist authority when abused."
-Mahatma Gandhi

The Right to Information Act was passed in May 2005 by the Parliament and got the President’s assent on 15th June, 2005. This statement may sound simple, but the journey of passing this law was not easy. Laws on transparency have always been resisted in India. The Lokpal Bill took 45 years to become a law, since its first draft in 1968. The RTI Act too has its share of history.

The stage for the RTI movement was set by two Supreme Court judgments. In 1982 the Supreme Court remarked that 'Disclosure of Information as regards the functioning of Government must be the rule and secrecy an exception'. In the famous case of Mr. Kulwal v/s Jaipur Municipal Corporation in 1986 the Supreme Court gave clear cut directive that Freedom of Speech and Expression provided under article 19 of the Constitution clearly implies Right to Information as without information the freedom of speech and expression cannot be fully used by the citizens.

The first politician to lay emphasis on RTI was then PM VP Singh. He tried to enact legislation in 1989-90. Due to the political instability at the time, the idea did not materialize and VP Singh was removed from office in 1990, as his National Front government lost the confidence vote in Lok Sabha.

In the meanwhile, several civil society groups were formed with the objective of getting legislation on RTI passed. The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), founded in 1996, was one of them. It is the organization that took the matter to its logical end. Due to the growing demand for right to information, the Press Council of India under Justice JB Sawant drafted the Press Council- NIRD Freedom of Information Act, 1997. The Working Group, under HD Shourie, appointed by the United Front government, drafted the Freedom of Information Bill, 1997.
In 1998, when the NDA came to power, Prime Minister Vajpayee assured the nation of a bill to be soon introduced in parliament. This became reality in the year 2000. The bill was introduced in parliament as Freedom of Information and was referred to a Select Committee. After the select committee report in early 2002, the bill was passed in December, 2002. This was a watered down version of the bill proposed by NCPRI and other organizations.

The elections of 2004 brought the UPA to power. The government was headed by Dr Manmohan Singh. The National Advisory Council (NAC) was formed under Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. The main objective of the Council was to monitor implementation of government schemes. It was also known as the shadow government. After meetings with the civil society, the NAC made minor changes in the Freedom of Information Act, 2002. This was sent to the government. There was reluctance among politicians and bureaucrats in adopting these changes. There was an attempt made to re notify the earlier Act. This move faced widespread protests by citizens and civil society.

The government finally relented and a bill was introduced in December 2004. This was applicable only to the Union government. The civil society was not happy with this. Most of the information required by the common man was from state governments. The bill did not serve the purpose of the common man. Some members of the NAC too were unhappy with this. After heavy lobbying by NCPRI and other organizations the Right to Information Act,2005 was passed with 150 amendments.

Progressive States

There were many state governments of various parties which understood the need of the hour and enacted legislations before the Union government.

In 1997, the governments of Tamil Nadu and Goa were the first to enact this law.

The Government of Rajasthan enacted a law in 2000, after a lot of efforts by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan. The organization formed in 1994, strived to get information on the development works in rural areas.

A similar law came into effect in Karnataka in 2002, followed by Maharashtra in the same year. Madhya Pradesh passed the pending bill of 1998 again in 2003.

This is the brief history of the Right to Information in India.