Karnataka govt ruffles feathers by seeking details of frequent RTI applicants

The Congress-led UPA government in 2005 introduced the RTI Act and now it has become a movement in India. However, the state's Congress government has now given directions to its departments to list out the details of RTI applicants who seek information more often, which is against the very idea of the RTI Act.

RTI activists' lives are at risk and many have been assaulted, attacked, and even murdered in several instances. With this latest move, the Congress government in Karnataka has attracted the wrath of RTI activists and civil society groups who are concerned that the RTI activists face constant threats to their lives.

YR Janaki, Undersecretary in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), directed all the Deputy Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Secretaries of the Government on September 6, 2023, to get information from the departments, corporations, and boards under their jurisdiction and to then submit the consolidated data.

According to an official with the DPAR, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, under whom the DPAR comes, has given the green signal to issue this directive to all the departments. The officer of DPAR, who doesn't want to be named, told The Federal that the government has issued this letter based on the directions of an Information Commissioner's branch in Kalaburagi in North Karnataka, which was in April 2023.

The Information Commissioner of Kalaburagi Bench of Karnataka Information Commission issued an order on April 10, 2023, to provide the list of applicants who were submitting more applications. It is said that the Kalaburagi bench issued the directive based on a case where a person filed nearly 40 such applications. The previous BJP government did not act on the directive. However, the Congress came to power and sent directives to its departments to seek information on RTI applicants. After the DPAR directive, several departments including Commercial Tax, Excise, Treasury, etc. have sought the information of RTI applicants from their officers.

RTI allegedly being misused by some

The official with the DPAR said there is a lot of talk about the misuse of the Right to Information Act and officials think that the right to information law is being misused by a few citizens applying repeatedly, asking for a large amount of information, and asking for information unrelated to the applicants. Also, there are instances where some RTI activists blackmail and extort the officers by collecting information. This is also one of the reasons for the said directive, he said.

An RTI Activist, K Rajanna, alleged that more RTI applications are being filed to seem information of various departments, including Bangalore Development, Power, Health, Cooperation, Agriculture, etc., where there are allegedly a few irregularities happening in the present government. The government wants to identify the RTI applicant. “The reason to send such a directive may be to save themselves from possible embarrassment," he said.

RTI activist BM Shivakumar, who was behind the disclosure of documents of illegal denotification cases during the former CM BS Yediyurappa’s tenure, told The Federal that several people claiming to be RTI activists are extorting officials and others and bringing a bad name to the RTI workers and activists who are working for the sake of the society. Such blackmailers are to be curbed, but at the same time, the government cannot go to the extent of listing RTI activists and trying to identify the people who are investigating the misdeeds of the government and its functionaries, he said.

Another RTI activist N Ravikumar said the Supreme Court, in the case related to the social activist and sitting member of Rajya Sabha Saket S Gokhale, explained the importance of maintaining the privacy of RTI applicants. The court stated that uploading personal details of RTI applicants is not only "unnecessary" but also "makes some applicants vulnerable to unscrupulous elements, " he said.

“It is not only a violation of the applicant's privacy but can be a threat to his life. The government's move would deter RTI activists from using the RTI for fear of public disclosure of their identity,” he said.