Use of RTI Act as a political tool gaining roots
27 Sep, 2013When a leader of the stature of Narendra Modi asks his party functionaries to use Right to Information RTI (RTI) to the fullest, it is an indicator that the RTI Act, 2005 has now firmly established its roots. The Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate has reportedly asked the party workers to expose what he called as ‘corruption’ under Congress rule at the Centre and the states.
There have been reports of political parties having a RTI cell which files RTI applications for achieving the objectives of the political party to which they belong. Surprisingly, none of the major parties seem to approve bringing their own organisations under the ambit of the transparency law. There have been many instances of political stalwarts resorting to filing of RTI applications under their own name and signature. This paradox is unlikely to be resolved in near future. There is little harm in permitting citizens with specific political views to seek information using the RTI Act and legally too, nothing forbids a person from filing a RTI application.