Why RTI is toothless without file notings

Why RTI is toothless without file notings

They Reflect Officers’ ‘Ulterior Motives’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Last week when The Times of India broke the story that the cabinet was about to approve amendments in the RTI Act to keep file notings out of public purview, there was predictably a furore. Those who had worked for years to empower the Indian citizen with knowledge felt the changes in the law would suck the life out of it. And honest bureaucrats, who believed RTI was a handy tool to keep corrupt bosses in check, saw this as a major setback to cleanse the system.

In a letter to the President, former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole — a man known for his integrity — wrote, “The decision of GoI to amend the RTI Act is highly retrograde and would totally defeat the very purpose of the Act. In fact, making the notings on the file open to people can be the single most effective check on the rampant corruption both at the administrative and political levels. It can also strengthen the hands of officers of honesty and integrity.”

What do the changes propose to do? Under the original Act, file notings on everything, barring defence, security, personal information and commercial information, could be accessed. Now proposal is to keep virtually all file notings under wrap, barring those on “social and developmental’’ projects.

The government says this change is being done to allow bureaucrats to fearlessly put their opinion on paper. Veteran bureaucrats feel the purpose is exactly the opposite — while pliable officers can now hide their consent to their masters’ wrong demands, honest officers can no longer cite the RTI to demand that the masters put their unlawful instructions in writing and more often than not, fob them off.

ToI explains why file notings are inseparable from a meaningful RTI. And why, minus access to them, RTI becomes toothless.

# What is file noting? Contrary to popular perception, file notings are not mere scribbles made by officers on the margins of any document. They are written on a separate green sheet on the left side of files, giving an officer’s considered comments on the issue. While the right side of a file contains the proposal, the left side has an officer’s views on it. After putting his views, the officer passes the file to his superior who, in turn, puts his views expressing approval or disapproval on this page.

# Why are file notings important? The green sheet is a record of the entire decisionmaking process. An officer’s comments on a particular issue — for or against — is written on the file notings. For instance, why a passport should be or should not be issued, or why a contract should or should not be given to a particular party, is all written in the file noting. If you don’t get to know this, you will never know who is misusing his powers.

# Who’s afraid of file notings and why? A file noting can expose whether any officer has written anything illegal or if he has delayed a particular file. In that sense, if file notings are taken out of the RTI Act, dishonest officials have reason to celebrate.

To illustrate the point, when 150 jhuggis were demolished in Mayur Vihar in September 2005, DDA said no land was available to resettle them. However, file notings revealed that 700 plots of land had actually been developed by DDA in Kondli for resettling them.

File notings are important even in routine matters. Suppose one applies for a ration card or a passport, and the babu expects a bribe. Under the present RTI Act, as soon as one files an RTI application and demands to know about a file’s status and asks for the names of officials responsible for the delay, there is usually a flurry of activity.

If the Act is amended this threat will no longer be there. The damning information is on the green page that has file notings. So, is the proposed change a positive step forward — as the PMO has claimed — or really retrograde? Our law-makers will have to take a call later this session.