Prevention of corruption is possible only through transparency, says SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that the prevention of corruption is possible through the transparency for which the RTI Act has been enacted. The denial to disclose certain informations under the provisions of the transparency law should not be construed as a fetter on the right to information, the apex court said.

The court said that the bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and its examination processes come under the purview of the transparency law.

"Public authorities should realise that in an era of transparency, previous practices of unwarranted secrecy have no longer a place. Accountability and prevention of corruption is possible only through transparency", said a bench comprising Justice RV Raveendran and Justice AK Patnaik on Friday.

The court said, "when section 8 (of RTI Act) exempts certain information from being disclosed, it should not be considered to be a fetter on the right to information, but as an equally important provision protecting other public interests essential for the fulfillment and preservation of democratic ideals".

Therefore in dealing with information not falling under section 4(1)(b) and (c) of the Act, the competent authorities under the RTI Act will not read the exemptions in section 8 in a restrictive manner but in a practical manner so that the other public interests are preserved and the RTI act attains a fine balance between its goal of attaining transparency of information and safeguarding the other public interests, said Justice Raveendran writing the judgement for the bench.

Section 4 (1) (b) and (c) of the act of 2005 deals with the information which promotes transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, disclosure of which helps in containing or discouraging corruption.