Introduction

In this ,any citizen of India can request for information from a “public authority” (a body of Government of central or State”) which is required to reply rapidly or within 30 days. In case of matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours. The Act also said that, every public authority have to computerize their records for wide eloboration and to actively publish  information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information manually .

The RTI Bill was passed by Parliament of India on 15 June 2005 and came into force with effect from 12 October 2005. It was replaced by the Freedom of Information

Act, 2002. RTI in State level was already in force before the RTI Act was introduced.

It was enacted successfully by Tamil Nadu and Goa in 1997, Karnataka and Rajasthan in 2001, Delhi in 2001, Maharashtra and Assam in 2002, MP in 2003, Jammu and Kashmir in 2004, and Haryana in 2005.

 Right to Information is not included as a Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India, but it protects the fundamental rights to Freedom of Expression and freedom of Speech under Article 19(1)(a) and Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 given by the Indian Constitution.

In the world of globalization and liberalization, public bodies are also moving towards to become global brands. In this scenario, many private bodies and public bodies are working together So its become important to fix the accountability.

Private Bodies  

The Indian Legislature did not include private bodies under the RTI directly. But in the landmark decision of Sarabjit Roy v. Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, it was reaffirmed by the Central Information Commission that privatized companies are also included under the umbrella of the RTI Act, regardless of their privatization. One of the common misunderstandings among the general public is that only those entities which are a subsidy to the government or are funded by the government are under the purview of the RTI Act. But the fact is that private bodies also falls under the RTI

whether or not they are substantially funded or aided by the government

Section 2 (a)  This section of RTI act refers to a public entity which is constituted, owned, established, substantially financed (directly or indirectly) or controlled by the Central Government, State Government Union Territory Administration.	Section 2 (f) This section of RTI act states that, information means any material in any form including any document, form, memo, email, logbook, circular, sample, contracts, models, papers or any data help in electronic form and any information related to a private body which can be operated by a public authority.

Political parties

The Central Information Commission (CIC) anounced that the political parties are public authorities so they are answerable to citizens under the RTI Act.

The      Central             Information      Commission     said      that      8          national parties- Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI(M), CPI, BSP, NPP and AITC – has been  funded indirectly by the Central Government and have the role of public authorities under the RTI Act.

 But in August 2013 the government introduced a Right To Information (Amendment) Bill which would remove political parties from the scope of the law. Currently no parties are under the RTI Act and a case has been filed for bringing all political parties under it

Some important judgements 

• Central Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of India vs. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, 2020

• UPSC v. Angesh Kumar, AIR 2018

• N N Dhumane v. PIO, Department of Post, 2018

• Reserve Bank of India v. Jayantilal Mistry (Supreme Court, 2015)

• Aadesh Kumar v. Union of India (Delhi High Court), 2014

• Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Chief Information Commissioner and ors., 2013

Summary-

This act gives Indian citizens the right to get information about any public authority, NGO which funded by the government. This law also gives a power to fight against corruption. A citizen can directly establish a relation with a public authority and they also can make their social presence by itself.