By Nilima Pathak, Correspondent

[September 19, Gulf News]

New Delhi: There has been much talk of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in India. Gulf News looked behind the curtain and spoke to its creator.

Wajahat Habibullah was appointed India's first Chief Information Commissioner in 2005 to implement the RTI Act. A retired senior civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service, he has been working towards making the Act a success story.

The RTI Act gives citizens of India access to records of the central government and state governments. Any citizen may request information from a public authority which is required to reply within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerise their records.

Prior to his present appointment, Habibullah served in Jammu and Kashmir for more than two decades in various key positions. He was Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir in 1991, negotiating with the militants who had laid siege on the Hazratbal Shrine.

But even after leaving Kashmir, he has been handling the region as channel negotiator of the government by bringing Kashmir separatists to the talking table.

Gulf News spoke to Wajahat Habibullah on issues pertaining to the RTI Act as well as Jammu and Kashmir.

As Chief Information Commissioner, are you satisfied with the functioning of the RTI Act?

Wajahat Habibullah I am not yet fully satisfied because there is a key element that is lagging. And unless we look into that, the Act itself may not be successful. That element is the suo motto disclosure. Under a section of the Act, records of all departments are to be computerised and connected through a network. And the information should be available on the Internet, so that one can access information from not just within the country but in any part of the world. If that is done it will mean the Act has been fully implemented. Otherwise a lot of information will not be available due to the old record keeping system.

How successful is the Central Information Commission in satisfying people who seek assistance?

The feedback that I have got is that some are satisfied with some commissioners, whereas others are not, since every state has its own Commission. The RTI Act is the most radical law passed in India, ever since the Constitution itself. It has also been described by many outsiders as perhaps the most advanced of its kind in the world. It is the Right to Information and not the Freedom of Information, as similar laws are referred to in other countries, including the US and the UK.

Has there been any kind of pressure on you from any ministry to take things easy regarding the RTI Act?

Not really. But we have had a certain degree of disagreement with the Department of Personnel because they have put up some entries on their website, which we said were illegal and against the law. Those have still not been removed. That apart, there have not been any major disagreements. In fact, the government departments have been quite responsive to our suggestions. The defence ministry has done a good job by creating an independent cell. Its only job is to service the RTI queries.

Which areas are still not in the ambit of the RTI Act?

There are organisations, which we hold, that fall under the definition of public authority. They may not be government departments, but are either owned, controlled or substantially financed by the government. Others have been created by a law or a notification made by the government. Good examples are the discoms, which supply electricity to Delhi.

They claim to be private organisations, but came into existence as a result of a law passed by the State Assembly. Initially created as public sector organisations, they were later transferred to the private sector. But they do not want to come under the RTI Act.

Similarly, the stock exchanges are created by notifications issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which is not a government organisation. But in issuing notifications it is actually exercising the powers of the government. We had, in fact, thought they would want to be covered under the RTI Act, as they are answerable to the stock holders and to the public. But they are hesitant and went to the court and got stay orders.

What is the reason behind the government not working towards spreading awareness among the masses regarding the RTI Act?

The government has played a major role in seeing the training of its own personnel. But they have not done much to spread awareness. We have spoken to the government regarding this and suggested that they set a budget and NGOs doing good work in this area should be funded to spread public awareness.

You say that the NGOs are doing good work. They are also the ones taking the maximum advantage of the RTI Act. But when it comes to their own functioning they hide information.

Many of them say they do not accept money from the government hence they are not really a public authority. Yet even among those, some would like their information disclosed and voluntarily comply with the RTI Act. But most of those accepting funds from the government, say they are not accountable. Incidentally, they were the ones originally crying for transparency in the government. But now they are holding their own selves back.

Are there any ministries that often delay the information regarding requests or evade RTI queries?

There are certain individuals, but not any ministry that has been accused of it. The Finance Ministry is the one with the highest rate of refusals. That is often because they deal with bank accounts, income tax details, etc. And very often people venture out asking for private information. In these cases there is a refusal and the percentage keeps increasing.

You have been associated with Kashmir in various capacities and it has been close to your heart. Do you think the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is being tackled in the right perspective?

Yes and no. The present state of affairs that has developed in Jammu is a purely law and order situation. It should have been dealt with accordingly. But it was tackled as a political situation and that sent a very wrong message to the people in Kashmir.

A decade ago you were quite optimistic about Kashmir. You had said, "Confidence of the local people is crucial. Once that is won, the whole issue can be solved in minutes." Where have we reached after all these years?

When I said that, I thought we had reached quite far. But the recent situation shows that we have not reached as far as we would have liked.

Posted on 20 Sep 2008 by Webmaster