In a historic verdict, the nine-judge bench of Supreme Court unanimously held Right to Privacy as an inalienable and fundamental right and an intrinsic part of Article 21, the Right to life and personal liberty.
The Right to Information (RTI) empowers the citizens by enabling them to be informed of the activities of the Government on one hand, and on the other, it also protects the privacy of the citizens.
According to the RTI Act, 2005, any information which does not relate to personal life, or which would not cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of an individual can be given. So,the RTI Act does not allow the unwarranted invasion of privacy. Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act codified this privacy exception.
However, the misuse of this section by Public Information Officers (PIOs) is rampant, as they continue to deny access to information held by them.
Widespread corruption in government offices does not allow PIOs to share information sought. Similar, is the case with land records, which are neither updated, nor revealed. The excuse they profusely abuse is the clause of privacy.
This abuse by public authorities in the name of privacy is also seen in case of financial frauds and to maintain secrecy of academic qualifications of public servants, who are probably recruited without sufficient degrees, promoting nepotism in public services.
Caste information is also claimed to be "private" to cover up for the false caste certificates which are sold commonly, so that even higher caste people can get reservations.
Given the situation, the bench aptly said that protection under RTI Act was not enough and a constitutional declaration was needed.
Thus, the state can neither invade the privacy of individual citizens, nor evoke privacy to deny access to public information. Privacy cannot be a cover up for corruption.
A partial codification of privacy as a limitation to RTI is available under the RTI Act, 2005. However, the State has to make sure that Right to Privacy is not misused to curb Right to information of the citizens.
A proper machinery and authority is needed to be put in place to secure the citizens the Right to Privacy without denying them the Right to Information.
The Right to Information (RTI) empowers the citizens by enabling them to be informed of the activities of the Government on one hand, and on the other, it also protects the privacy of the citizens.
According to the RTI Act, 2005, any information which does not relate to personal life, or which would not cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of an individual can be given. So,the RTI Act does not allow the unwarranted invasion of privacy. Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act codified this privacy exception.
However, the misuse of this section by Public Information Officers (PIOs) is rampant, as they continue to deny access to information held by them.
Widespread corruption in government offices does not allow PIOs to share information sought. Similar, is the case with land records, which are neither updated, nor revealed. The excuse they profusely abuse is the clause of privacy.
This abuse by public authorities in the name of privacy is also seen in case of financial frauds and to maintain secrecy of academic qualifications of public servants, who are probably recruited without sufficient degrees, promoting nepotism in public services.
Caste information is also claimed to be "private" to cover up for the false caste certificates which are sold commonly, so that even higher caste people can get reservations.
Given the situation, the bench aptly said that protection under RTI Act was not enough and a constitutional declaration was needed.
Thus, the state can neither invade the privacy of individual citizens, nor evoke privacy to deny access to public information. Privacy cannot be a cover up for corruption.
A partial codification of privacy as a limitation to RTI is available under the RTI Act, 2005. However, the State has to make sure that Right to Privacy is not misused to curb Right to information of the citizens.
A proper machinery and authority is needed to be put in place to secure the citizens the Right to Privacy without denying them the Right to Information.
No comments:
Post a Comment