The Hon’ble Supreme Court, in the case of Raj Narain vs. the State of UP in early 1976, viewed that PEOPLE CAN’T SPEAK OR EXPRESS THEMSELVES UNLESS THEY KNOW.
The Supreme Court further observed that India is a democracy and, PEOPLE ARE THE MASTERS IN A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM. Masters have the right to know how the Govt., which serves them, are functioning.
Everybody pays tax to the Govt. Even, a street beggar pays tax in the form of sales tax when he purchases a piece of soap from market. Therefore, PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW HOW THEIR MONEY IS BEING UTILIZED BY THE GOVT. IN A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM.
On the basis of these three principles as laid down by the Apex Court, Right to Information became a part of fundamental rights, which was embedded in the Article 19 of the Constitution of India. RTI comes under Article 19(1) which says that every citizen of India has right to freedom of speech and expression.
RTI was enacted with effect from the 13th October, 2005. The Act does not confer on us ay new right, rather it lays down the manner of seeking information, payment of fees etc.
There was a confusion as to whether a Govt. employee can make queries to his employer under RTI Act,2005? This is because that THE EMPLOYER – EMPLOYEE RELATION IS ALWAYS A MASTER – SERVANT RELATION.So, whether the servant has any right to ask his master for any information under RTI Act ! It is resolved that a person becomes a citizen first and then becomes an employee. So, he/she has the right.
Many many thanks to Dr. Majumdar for his clarifications which are lucid as well as vivid and, I think, will help us to understand the applications of RTI Act.
Bithi you can visit the web site ‘rtiindia.org’ which is run by an IPS officer Dr.Kushal pathak. It is number one site in India. You can take the membership free of cost and can know a lot of things which may of us do not know.
