ASEER JAMAL versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS. on 27 September 2018

1. Almost a century back, Nobel Laureate T.S. Eliot haddisenchantingly written, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” Though the contentof the statement cannot be said to have lost its fragrance or flavour, yettoday, information has become a strong sense of power. Right toCinformation has been treated as a right to freedom of speech andexpression as contained in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.The right to acquire and to disseminate information has been regardedas an intrinsic component of freedom of speech and expression, as statedin Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, GovernmentDof India and others v. Cricket Association of Bengal and others.[1]and People’s Union for Civil Liberties and another v. Union of Indiaand others.[2]

2. Having stated about the right to information, we would advertto the assertions made in the writ petition. It is set forth in the writpetition that India, which is a vast country having large population, hasEfew millions of illiterate adults and certain States, as per the 2011 Census,have more illiterates.

3. Referring to Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005(for brevity, „the Act ), it is urged that the illiterate persons and the visuallyimpaired persons or persons afflicted by other kinds of disabilities areFnot in a position to get the information. It is contended that the provisioncontained in Section 6 suffers from unreasonable classification betweenvisually impaired and visually abled persons and thereby invites the frownof Article 14 of the Constitution. It is further contended that certainprovisions of the Act are not accessible to orthopaedically impairedGpersons, persons below the poverty line and persons who do not haveany access to the internet. Though in the petition, it has been asseveratedas regards the violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, yet the prayer iscouched in a different manner and we are obliged to say so because wefeel that there is no need or necessity to deal with the constitutional1(1995) 2 SCC 161H2(2004) 2 SCC 476

validity of Section 6 of the Act. In fact, it is further necessary to mentionthat in the course of hearing, the prayer was centered on getting thereliefs, namely, to direct the Union of India, the States and the UnionTerritories to provide an effective machinery for the enforcement of thefundamental right to have access to information of illiterate citizens andto provide effective machinery to visually impaired persons and suchimpaired persons who are unable to have access to the internet. Thatbeing the fact situation, we sought the assistance of Mr. K.K. Venugopal,learned Attorney General for India in the matter.

4. We have heard Mr. Aseer Jamal, the petitioner, who hasappeared in-person and Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney Generalfor India. Though the chart prepared by Mr. Venugopal indicates theobjections and the response, yet we intend to deal with it in a holisticmanner.

5. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Act reads asfollows:-

“An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right toinformation for citizens to secure access to information under thecontrol of public authorities, in order to promote transparency andaccountability in the working of every public authority, theconstitution of a Central Information Commission and StateInformation Commissions and for matters connected therewithor incidental thereto.

WHEREAS the Constitution of India has establisheddemocratic Republic; AND WHEREAS democracy requires an informedcitizenry and transparency of information which are vital to itsfunctioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governmentsand their instrumentalities accountable to the governed; AND WHEREAS revelation of information in actualpractice is likely to conflict with other public interests includingefficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limitedfiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitiveinformation; AND WHEREAS it is necessary to harmonise theseconflicting interests while preserving the paramountcy of thedemocratic ideal; A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

ANow THEREFORE, it is expedient to provide for furnishingcertain information to citizens who desire to have it.”

6. Section 2(j) of the Act deals with “right to information”, whichreads thus:- “(j) “right to information” means the right to information accessibleBunder this Act which is held by or under the control of any publicauthority and includes the right to-

(i) inspection of work, documents, records;

(ii) taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents orrecords; C

(iii) taking certified samples of material;

(iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes,video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or throughprintouts where such information is stored in a computer or inany other device”

D7. Section 6 of the Act that deals with „request for obtaininginformation stipulates as under :- “6. Request for obtaining information.— (1) A person, whodesires to obtain any information under this Act, shall make arequest in writing or through electronic means in English or HindiEor in the official language of the area in which the application isbeing made, accompanying such fee as may be prescribed, to—

(a) the Central Public Information Officer or State PublicInformation Officer, as the case may be, of the concerned publicauthority; (b) the Central Assistant Public Information Officer or StateAssistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be,specifying the particulars of the information sought by him or her:

F

Provided that where such request cannot be made in writing, theCentral Public Information Officer or State Public InformationOfficer, as the case may be, shall render all reasonable assistanceto the person making the request orally to reduce the same inwriting.

G

(2) An applicant making request for information shall not berequired to give any reason for requesting the information or anyother personal details except those that may be necessary forcontacting him.

H

(3) Where an application is made to a public authority requestingfor an information,—

(i) which is held by another public authority; or

(ii) the subject matter of which is more closely connected withthe functions of another public authority, the public authority, to which such application is made. shall transferthe application or such part of it as may be appropriate to thatother public authority and inform the applicant immediately aboutsuch transfer:

Provided that the tiansfer of an application pursuant to this sub-section shall be made as soon as practicable but in no case laterthan five days from the date of receipt of the application.”

8. Mr. Venugopal, learned Attorney General, has emphasized theproviso to Section 6(1) to highlight that it is obligatory on the part of theCentral Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officerto render all reasonable assistance to the persons making the requestorally to reduce the same in writing. As we understand from the saidproviso, it will be the duty of the officer to listen to the persons and toreduce it in writing and process the same.

9. Section 6(3) of the Act takes care of the apprehension of thepersons for whose cause the petitioner espouses, by making the provisionpertaining to appropriate competent public authority. On a careful readingof the same, we do not find that there can be any difficulty for anyperson to find out the public authority as there is a provision for transfer.

10. As far as the grievance relating to visually impaired persons isconcerned, as stated earlier, assistance has to be rendered under Section6(1) of the Act to the persons who are unable to write or have difficultyin writing. Mr. K.K. Venugopal has brought to our notice that severalStates provide information in Braille since the year 2012. Every time theauthority receives an RTI application seeking information in Braille, itprepares a reply in the printed format and forwards it to the NationalInstitute for the Visually Handicapped where it is converted to Braille.The visually impaired citizens of Bihar were the first in the country toget copies under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the Rules madeby the State Government for its implementation in Braille script. Audiofiles are also being prepared.

11. From the chart filed by Mr. Venugopal, it is vivid that severalhotline numbers providing toll free access to information are available A

B

C

D

E

FG

H

Aon the RTI website. Furthermore, a help desk is also available for anyquery or feedback related to the portal. The contact number is011-24622461.

12. The next thing that requires to be emphasized upon is theplight of the people who are below the poverty line. It is useful to mentionBthat in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 27 of the Act, theCentral Government has framed a set of rules, namely, the Right toInformation Rules, 2012. Rules 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the said Rules read asfollows:- “3. Application Fee.—An application under sub- section (1) ofSection 6 of the Act shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees tenCand shall ordinarily not contain more than five hundred words,excluding annexures, containing address of the Central PublicInformation Officer and that of the applicant:

Provided that no application shall be rejected only on theground that it contains more than five hundred words.D4. Fees for providing information.— Fee for providinginformation under sub-section (4) of Section 4 and sub-sections(I) and (5) of Section 7 of the Act shall be charged at the followingrates, namely :—

(a) rupees two for each page in A-3 or smaller size paper; E

(b) actual cost or price of a photocopy in large size paper;

(c) actual cost or price for samples or models; (d) rupees fifty per diskette or floppy; (e) price fixed for a publication or rupees two per page ofFphotocopy for extracts from the publication; (f) no fee for inspection of records for the first hour of inspectionand a fee of rupees 5 for each subsequent hour or fractionthereof; and (g) so much of postal charge involved in supply of informationGthat exceeds fifty rupees.

5. Exemption from Payment of Fee.— No fee under rule 3and rule 4 shall be charged from any person who, is below povertyline provided a copy of the certificate issued by the appropriateGovernment in this regard is submitted alongwith the application.

H

6. Mode of Payment of fee.— Fees under these rules may bepaid in any of the following manner, namely:—

(a) in cash, to the public authority or to the Central AssistantPublic Information Officer of the public authority, as the casemay be, against a proper receipt; or (b) by demand draft or bankers cheque or Indian Postal Orderpayable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority; or

(c) by electronic means to the Accounts Officer of the publicauthority, if facility for receiving fees through electronic meansis available with the public authority.”

13. Rule 5 takes care of the situation that has been highlighted bythe petitioner. If an applicant belongs to below poverty line (BPL)category, he/she has to submit a proof in support of his/her claim that he/she belongs to the said category and as far as the mode of payment isconcerned, various modes are provided and the criticism that it is restrictedis unacceptable.

14. In view of the obtaining situation, as has been brought out bythe learned Attorney General for India, as presently advised, we aredisposed to think that no further direction needs to be issued exceptgranting liberty to the petitioner to submit a representation to the competentauthority pointing out any other mode(s) available for getting informationunder the Act. If such a representation is submitted, the same shall bedealt not only with sympathy but also with concern and empathy. Wesay so as differently abled persons, which include visually impairedpersons, should have the functional facility to receive such informationas permissible under the Act. They should not be deprived of the benefitof such a utility. As indicated in the beginning, the information makesone empowered. Additionally, we think it appropriate to ask the authoritiesto explore any kind of advanced technology that has developed in themeantime so that other methods can be introduced. We are absolutelysure that if the petitioner would point out, the cognizance of the sameshall be taken. We are also certain that the authority shall, with allsincerity and concern, explore further possibilities with the available on-line application/mechanism.

15. The writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of. There shall beno order as to costs.

Devika Gujral

Petition diposed of.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H