New Delhi: The Right to Information Act is widely believed to be one of the most effective instruments in our democracy, it allows every citizen to question the government, politicians and government officials.
But it seems it's hitting the officials where it hurts, now they are fighting back - in subtle and not so subtle ways they are trying to curb the power of the Central Information Commission (CIC).
Back off from our turf, that's the message the CIC sent to the government after the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued a circular stating that all appeals and complaints must be heard by the full commission of seven members.
"It is highly impractical to expect the entire bench to hear every case together especially in the state commissions. We have asked them to provide an alternative, a system in place so that their demand could be considered," said Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner.
An attempt to reverse all the work done by the CIC so far has been met with anger. RTI activists say when the CIC was set up there was no such stipulation and this is yet another attempt by the government to cripple the CIC's growing role that makes it uncomfortable.
"This would send confusing signals particularly to those officers who don't want to share information and would use it as an excuse not to, so it is actually going against what has been done so far," said Arvind Kejriwal, RTI activist.
CPI leader Brinda Karat also hit out at the government over the issue in Parliament.
"Who is the DoPT to make such demands, the CIC is an independent body. The government has no business getting involved in this," said Brinda Karat, Politburo member.
Since its inception the commission has heard thousands of cases.
RTI complaints:
In May 2008, the commission had dealt with 736 cases this figure more than doubled to 1643 cases in May 2009
Despite this there are about 28,512 cases pending before the information watchdog
There are now concerns that attempts by the government to restrict the role of the CIC will lead to a massive delay in disposing cases, something that the CIC has been going to lengths to avoid.
For the moment though, the two sides are steering clear of a confrontation and the government has been silent after the CIC's last letter on the issue.