RTI AMMENDMENT

Efforts to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 are underway. The proposed amendment is the amendment of Section 8 of the act (which specifies exemptions to the Act).according to the act in its present form, applications seeking information can  be rejected on the grounds of being “frivolous and vexatious.”.The proposed amendment seeks to add a provision which would authorize the information officers to decide on whether or not an application is “frivolous and vexatious”. Any measure to tamper with the provisions of accountability ensured by the RTI act, without a regulatory framework to cross-check the judgment of the information officers, would defeat the purpose of the legislation. The government should develop alternative mechanisms to check the inflow of frivolous applications rather than encouraging the information officers to shirk their responsibility. a clear definition as to , what decisions would be regarded as “frivolous and vexatious” should be formulated & awareness on the same should be created.in the era of transparent governance, the RTI is a means to restore the faith of the people in our democracy. The government’s attitude to give respite to the “over-burdened information officer’s”, would be a major setback in ensuring that the government are ultimately responsible to the people.