SC says RTI law used for vested interest; seeks guidelines to prevent misuse

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday flagged the issue of “misuse” of the Right to Information Act (RTI) during a hearing on a plea which has sought court intervention to prevent the government from frustrating the impact of the law by consistently not filling up crucial vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC).

CJI SA Bobde suggested that there ought to be some norms or guidelines restricting information seekers of all kinds. Those seeking information must have some locus, he said.

Activist Prashant Bhushan, who was arguing the petition seeking to have all the vacancies filled, said the issue of locus had already been decided, the CJI said: “You are acting as if there is no misuse. There is concern over its misuse.”


The CJI insisted that there was “paralysis and fear” in the government and its functionaries. “People are not taking any decisions,” he said.

The CJI seemed to suggest that some people had made a profession out of the RTI by seeking information for vested interests and were using it to blackmail others. “Some people describe themselves as RTI activists. Is it a profession?”

Bhushan tried to convince the court otherwise insisting that he was a part of the drafting of the RTI. In this context, he cited the examples of electoral bonds as an instance in which the people deserved to know who was getting benefitted by black money or it was being paid to political parties. “The people are the masters in any democratic republic,” he said.