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Right to Information being misused under the cloak of activism

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The recent arrest of a journalist, who was trying to extort money from officials of local body tax (LBT) department of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), has opened a can of worms on how the Right to Information (RTI) Act, also dubbed as a sunshine law, is being misused by certain unscrupulous elements under the garb of activism to allegedly extort money from civic officials and make quick money.

According to civic officials, who requested not to be named, "Of the number of applications being filed under RTI, almost 80% are being done to blackmail officials and extort money. Engineering and LBT department are the favourite with those filing RTI."

Another official added, "Several so-called activists have opened their own offices and have been filing RTI one after another. After information that has been obtained is that these activists meet the concerned official to strike a deal and many a times the amount settled for is in lakhs. It is also true that some of our officials have amassed wealth by illegal means and such activists want to have their share of money."

The official said, "Normally, if the deal is not getting through, then these activists threaten to approach the media and the high court with a public interest litigation. We have such applicants who have filed 200 RTI applications, but have never followed on the same as they were successful in striking a deal with the corrupt officials."

A civic official, who is based in Vashi, on the condition of anonymity, revealed that even their department had to deal with RTI queries and activists made rounds of their office to strike a deal. "Several people made rounds of my office to extort money from me after filing RTI. I was very clear with what I had to do as I neither indulge in corruption and nor am I going to give in to any demand of such elements," said the official, who has received several awards at national level for the contribution to the society.

An RTI activist, who have been genuinely doing a good job, said, "Everything has two sides. There are bound to be bad elements who will extort money in the name of this act. Also, those who are giving into the demands of such extortionist activists are the ones who have indulged in wrong doing and this is precisely what the activists are encashing on. The best approach for officials should be to have a clean image and do clean work. Also, one should not forget that several big scams have been unearthed due to this act, which is a deterrent for officials."

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