Journalism of Courage
Reacting to the Newsline report about the recent trend in Maharashtra of public information officers (PIOs) forwarding Right to Information (RTI) applications to private companies,RTI activist Air Commodore (retd) Lokesh Batra has written to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). In his letter,he has sought issuance of directions to stop this practice as it would put whistleblowers at risk.
In a report published on October 27,Newsline had highlighted that PIOs are sending original RTI applications seeking information related to licenses and memorandum of understanding (MoU) to the private companies in question,asking them to furnish the information directly.
Batra,in his letter to secretary DoPT,stated that this in contravention with Section 2 (f) and 6(3) of the RTI Act. He pointed out that,these sections of the Act,makes it mandatory for the PIO to collect information and if need be,transfer the applications to public authorities. Private companies do not constitute public authorities,and thus,applications cant be transferred to them. It is for the public authority to collect the information without disclosing the identity of the information-seeker, the letter stated.
Pointing out the history of RTI appellants killed so far and danger lurking for whistleblowers,Batra asked DoPT to immediately issue an advisory to all authorities concerned to stop the practice of sharing information-seekers personal information with private bodies/individuals.
