[RTI INDIA] "Powerful babus biggest threat to RTI" - CIC A.N.Tiwari

Speaking yesterday at a function at the DoPT's Institute of
Secretarial Training and Management (ISTM), the Chief Information
Commissioner A.N. Tiwari said RTI should be saved from "an upsurge of
emotions".

Admitting that RTI had some weakness as it was the "outgrowth of
judicial intervention and has a legalistic framework," he said the RTI
Act was facing divergent challenges.

"On the one hand, the aspiration of people to access information was
on the upswing while on the other hand, officials need confidentiality
to run the system," he said.

Tiwari said there were different categories of people frequenting the
RTI system.

"The first category is those who want to pull down the high and mighty
and want to know whether wealth was amassed by the authorities or
corruption was practised. The second set is those who want to know how
the government used its discretion in policy matters," he said.

The third category, or "bread and butter" group, want to know about
the fate of their provident fund accounts and pension papers, he said.

According to Tiwari, the fourth group, mostly officials facing
vigilance probes or disciplinary actions, were misusing the RTI system
most to find out the moves against them.

"These articulate, English-speaking, powerful group of bureaucrats are
the biggest challenge to the RTI system," he said.