Taking no chance of getting penalised or summoned by courts, in case they are unable to supply the demanded information, government and private institutions are hiring advocates to contest their cases in the courts.

Majority of cases that come to courts are mainly related with information not supplied, incomplete information or information other than the demanded one.

Why engage lawyers?

“The RTI Act has not only been implemented effectively but those who fail to supply information are being severely penalised by The Information Commission and courts. Moreover, since the information demanded concerns particular officials, the latter would never take a chance to attract strictures or penalty from the court, especially when the strictures can affect promotion,” said advocate D K Singhal.

“Courts slap heavy penalties on people who refuse to supply information and do not abide by the act. Since the penalty has to be paid most of the times by defaulters, they prefer advocates to contest cases on their behalf,” said advocate Swaraj Arora. Another crucial factor that makes lawyers’ engagement important is the time and energy that one wants to save by avoiding regular visit to courts.

Type of cases in courts

The majority of cases that come to courts are those that concern the non-supply of information demanded by individuals. “More than 8 per cent of cases are related to information not supplied by concerned party. After approaching appellate authorities, when people fail to get the required information, they finally approach courts not only to obtain court directions to get the information but also strictures against other party for not supplying it,” said Anil Kamra.

Another category of cases pertaining to the RTI, deals with a rather strange stand taken by authorities while denying the information. In majority of cases, it has been observed that authorities refuse to provide information saying that it is of private nature and could not be made available. However, when the matter is reported to courts and is found that the information was not of private nature, heavy penalty is slapped on erring officials.

Giving due importance to the RTI Act, for the first time, a division bench headed by Justice Uma Nath Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Chief Information Commissioner, Wajahat Habibullah, to consider and dispose the pending appeal of an Amritsar resident within a period of four weeks.

The order was passed on October 2 last year. The petitioner, Rajan Verma, had demanded information regarding an alleged embezzlement by Canara Bank officials under the act. However, the information was not supplied and the commissioner kept on delaying in deciding Verma’s appeal.

A handy tool

Besides fighting cases against erring officials who fail to supply information or deny information on one account or the other, the lawyers of the Punjab and Haryana High Court are using the act as an effective tool to get information against government departments and then use it in filing public interest litigations (PIL).

The advantage of getting information under the act is — the cases are based on the information supplied by the department itself.

The misuse

While a majority of lawyers feel that the RTI Act benefits the general public, some feel that people are misusing it.