Did Prime Minister sound RTI alarm on his own?

Did prime minister Manmohan Singh say that “RTI could end up discouraging honest well-meaning officials” without taking any written views from any of them? If responses to RTI queries are any indication, he made the comment in response to hearsay or out of his own concern about honest officials withholding themselves when coming under public gaze and debate.

Delivering a speech at the sixth RTI convention in Delhi on October 14, Singh had said: “Another concern that has been raised is that the Right to Information could end up discouraging honest, well-meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views. I think we need to remember here that a point of view brought under public scrutiny and discussion in an isolated manner may sometimes present a distorted or incomplete picture of what really happened in the processes of making the final decisions. The RTI should not adversely affect the deliberative processes in the government.”

His other concerns were problems faced by officials due to limited time and resources and exemptions, which, he said, people should look with a critical mind. The prime minister had raised the issue when differences between finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P Chidambaram had come to the fore on the 2G scam issue.

The information about the same came in one line reply from the Department of Personnel and Training when RTI activist Vihar Durve asked for details. After attending the RTI convention, Durve, in his application dated November 8, had sought documents /records/opinions/views/emails/basis, etc on which the prime minister had made the statement. His other questions dealt with the number of vexatious applications and name and details of the honest officers who got troubled by them among others.

The reply from the central public information officer and under secretary of DoPT said, “Undersigned holds no information.” The PMO had marked the application to DoPT as it holds the information.

“The PM made the statement without having any basis to it. His views are not supported by any document. Even if someone told him while talking, that part should have been recorded. This is a poor man’s Act that has helped most people. They should not touch the Act make any amendments to it,” Durve said.