Right To Information Assignment

ASSIGNMENT: RTI
SUBMITTED BY: CHIRAIYA SARUPARIA
ROLL NO. 31
RIGHT TO INFORMATION COMPLEMENTARY TO RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Right to information (RTI) caters a fundamental right upon the citizens so that it gives them a
legal right to access the information held by government bodies. Simultaneously, right to
privacy allows the individuals to have authority and supervision of the personal information
about them that is held by the government and private bodies for instance Aadhar card or
bank details. Right to Information and Right to privacy can be said to be complementary and
supplementary to each other. They are the two sides of the same coin. But contrary to this
nature of these two there exit a conflict between them. Right to Information and Right to
privacy both have been globally recognised by many countries.
If we talk about current situation which is prevalent around us it can be witnessed that
technologies have taken over lives, and as far as it is concerned with privacy, the privacy of
the individual is being increasingly challenged by new technologies and trends in the society
and with the introduction of internet the invasion over an individual privacy are quotidian.
There are instances where various details are disclosed over internet and go viral with a blink
of an eye.
RIGHT TO INFORMATION
Aristotle: “If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy,
they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost”. The
right to information is implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution. To establish a practical
regime for securing and safe guarding the information, the Indian Parliament enacted a
legislation, i.e., the Right to Information Act, 2005 giving a powerful tool to the citizens to
get information from the Government as a matter of right. This law is very comprehensive in
nature and covers all the aspect and matters of governance. The term "information" means
any material in any form, which may include records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions,
advice, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models,
data material held in any electronic and information relating to any private body which can be
accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force. Under RTI the
right of access to the information which is held by government bodies is classified as the
basic right of the human being. Right to information is derived from the right of freedom of
expression to seek and receive information. Under RTI any person who seeks to get some
information may make an official request to a body. And that public body gets legally
bounded under RTI Act to respond to such requests. Therefore, generally, right to
information is defined as the universal right to access or seek information held by public
bodies. Right to information is a “Sine qua non” of democratic polity which means that right
to information cannot exist without a democratic establishment. Thus, it is the bed rock of
democracy and paves the way of transparency and accountability in governance of the affairs
of the state and ensure effective participation of the people in democratic society. 1 It also
promotes good governance. Good Governance is the process of making decision and
implementing them. The right to information is not specifically written in the Constitution of
India 1950, it has been interpreted through Articles 14 (right to equality), 19(1)(a) (freedom
of speech and expression) and 21 (right to life) and through number of cases such as Bennet
Coleman v. Union of India,2 Tata Press Ltd. v. Maharashtra Telephone Nigam Ltd., 3 etc. The
objective of the act is to establish “the practical regime of right to information for citizens to
secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote
transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a
Central Information Commission and State Information Commission and for matters
connected therewith and incidental thereto”4
There is a famous saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No
right can be absolute in nature. Therefore, to have a check and balance between right and
power to access it Right to information is not absolute in nature and comes along with certain
restrictions. Right to information will always be restricted when it comes to national security
and interest. Under RTI Act section 8 talks about restrictions that are imposed on right to
access information, for instance, information which would prejudice International relations,
integrity and national security of India or which is covered by legal / professional privilege,
etc.
1
David Banisar, 2011, The Right to Information and Privacy: Balancing Rights and managing conflicts.
Washington. The World Bank.
2
Australia Freedom of Information Act, 1982.
3
Bennet Coleman v. Union of India, AIR 1973 SC 106
4
The preamble to the RTI Act, 2005
RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Right to Privacy is an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Through various
judgments, Indian courts have interpreted the right to privacy primarily through Article 21,
the right to life and liberty. In the year 1963 in the case of Kharak Singh v. State of U.P. 5, the
Supreme Court considered the scope of Right to Privacy when the power of surveillance
conferred on the police by the provisions of the U.P. Police Regulations came to be
challenged as was violative of Articles 19 and Article 21 of the Constitution. The judgement
emphasized on the need for recognition of right to privacy essential for the personal liberty of
an individual.
Privacy is essential for the development of an individual’s ideas and their personal
relationship with other individual and society. The Right to Privacy is a recognised legal in
almost national constitution worldwide. It is also included in major international human
rights treaties, for example the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 6 the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,7 International bodies, including the European Court
of Human Rights and the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee, have also given
rulings on Right to privacy.
In the famous case Peoples Union for Civil Liberties v. Union Of India8 held that true
democracy cannot exist unless the citizens have a right to participate in the affair of the
policy of the country which is meaningless unless the citizens are well informed on all sides
of issue in respect of which they are called upon to express their views.
Privacy gives the right to control about who knows what about a person, and under what
conditions, thereby controlling the intimacies of life. It is all about secrecy, and the right to
determine for oneself if and to what extent personal information is disseminated. This is
essential to human dignity and autonomy in all societies around the globe.
Thus, RTI and Right to privacy often play complementary roles. Both are focused on
ensuring the accountability of powerful institutions to individual in the information era.
Several cases have laid down that these two rights overlap each other. They also mutually
enhance each other: privacy laws are used to obtain policy information in the absence of an
RTI law, and RTI laws are used to enhance privacy by revealing abuses.
5
AIR 1963 SC 1295: (1963) 2 Cri LJ 329
6
UDHR,Art. 12.
7
Ibid. ,Art. 17.
8
AIR 2003 SC 2363.

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ASSIGNMENT: RTI

SUBMITTED BY: CHIRAIYA SARUPARIA

RIGHT TO INFORMATION COMPLEMENTARY TO RIGHT TO PRIVACY

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