HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 122 : Model Answer

QUESTION:  The Right to Information and the Right to Privacy: The Paradox. Substantiate this statement in accordance with Right to Information Act,2005. Also highlight which problems are confronted in the implementation of RTI Act,2005 in Himachal Pradesh. ( 20 marks, 400 words)

Answer:  

The right to information and the right to privacy are both essential human rights in the modern information society. In most of the cases, both the rights complement each other in holding governments accountable to individuals.

• But there is a zone of conflict which emerges when there is a demand for access to personal information stored in a government database. It is an established fact that RTI Act is a vital piece of legislation which guarantees one and all access to public data or data pertaining to any activities of various public authorities.
• There is no conflict of interest so far as information relating to various aspects of governance is concerned since it is considered essential to allow the citizens of this country to seek information and know facts and figures of various government departments.
• The citizens of India are partners in the functioning of the wheel of democracy and progression and this philosophy caters to the justification of participatory democracy where transparency in its functioning is the truest hallmark.
• But when the two rights confront each other, the government needs to develop strategies and mechanisms to limit conflicts and to reconcile the rights as far as possible. Some structural and legislative means and modalities need to be explored to harmonize right to information and right to privacy.
• When the question of harmonizing the apparently conflicting rights is raised, a sense of compromise and accommodative culture needs to be promoted to ensure that the larger interest that needs to be nurtured under all circumstances is not compromised.
• It is quite understandable that so far as the genre of both the rights – the right to privacy and the right to information are concerned, they affiliate to the broader regime of human rights. Right to privacy is no doubt essential for an individual’s satisfying sense of freedom which creates a conductive atmosphere for the fullest development of one’s personality but when public interest becomes important, private interest must yield to the demands of public interest.
• Situational imperatives or urgency must determine the primacy of one right over the other. Right to privacy is not expressly given to citizens, but is the result of judicial review and court decisions.
• Privacy essentially connotes the right of an individual to control circumstances and situations based upon individual autonomy under which he is to share his personal information and the extent to which he intends to share it.
• Right to Information on the other hand guarantees to the citizens of a nation the right to seek information about government activities from appropriate government sources.

CONCLUSION: At the first inspection, it may seem that the right to access information and right to privacy are irreconcilable. But privacy law and right to information law are like two sides of the same coin – acting as complementary rights that encourage individual’s right to protect them and to promote government accountability. The conflict between these two rights needs to be reconciled and harmonized. The challenge lies with demarcating the extent or limit up to which private information may be disclosed. Though there is no precise and state-of the-art method to mark the line of demarcation of disclosure and non-disclosure, some kind of weighing of circumstances and contextual priority is necessary to ascertain how much of private  information of an individual needs to be disclosed having regard to the broader question of public interest for the good of the society at large.

The problems confronted in the implementation of RTI Act,2005 in Himachal Pradesh.

 Is mainly at two sides:

1. Demand Side:

• Low awareness level: Section 26 of the Act states that the appropriate Government may develop and organize educational programmes to advance the understanding of the public, especially disadvantaged communities, regarding how to exercise the rights contemplated under the Act.
• Constraints faced in filing applications: The RTI Act under section 27(1) and 28(1), specifies to the appropriate Governments and the Competent Authorities to make rules pertaining to implementation of the Act. Under Section 6 of the RTI Act, PIOs are required to provide reasonable assistance to the applicant in drafting and submission of the application.
• Poor quality of information provided: Incomplete and inaccurate information provided by the PIOs was the most common reason for first level appeals.

2. Supply Side:

• Failure to provide information within 30 days
• Inadequate trained PIOs and First Appellate Authorities
• Obsolete record management Guidelines
• Lack of infrastructure at PAs: The Implementation of RTI requires the PIOs to provide information to the applicant through photocopies, soft copies etc. While these facilities are considered to be easily available at a district level, it is a challenge to get information from Block/ Panchayat level.
• Various other issues confronted are Lack of Monitoring and Review mechanism, High level of pendency.