What goes around, comes around

  • Commentary
  • Consumer
  • RTI
  • Contact
Home » Governor of Andhra Pradesh says RTI used for blackmail

Governor of Andhra Pradesh says RTI used for blackmail

May 11, 2010 By videv 2 Comments

It seems governor of AP is the latest to join the bandwagon of government people  crying about misuse of RTI.  See news below:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/governor-says-rti-used-blackmail-tool-655

Hyderabad, May 10: The Governor, Mr ESL Narasimhan, condemned the misuse of the Right to Information (RTI) Act by some people, who have “vested interests”.

He said the RTI Act has become a tool to “blackmail” the government and its machinery.

“I can say with complete authority that the RTI Act is used for blackmailing people. If that was not the case, why do the same group of people apply for the RTI Act so often,” he asked while speaking at the Administrative Staff College of India, after inaugurating the Forum for Good Governance.

Ok.  The logic is that if some people file RTI so often, they must be using it for blackmail!  Well, this argument — that if only a few people do something often, it must be a form of blackmail — is ridiculous.  Such an argument could be used to label all those who protest against injustice, and freedom fighters before independence, as blackmailers!

Maybe the governor forgets that not so long back the 86 year old ex-governor of Andhra Pradesh had left his office amid scandalous revelations of sex rackets going on inside governor’s residence.  Such was the secrecy after that event that the media was stopped by High court order to show any further footage etc of the episode.  When government along with judiciary is hell-bent on stopping people from knowing what is going on within government, RTI is the only forum available for people to find out the truth behind government’s inner workings.

Citing his own experiences on the misuse of the Act, Mr Narasimhan said: “I receive RTI applications that seek information on the dinner I hosted for my guests. They ask me to disclose the guest-list, the menu and the expenditure incurred for the purpose.” He said is not spared even when he visits temples. “The other day, I went to a temple. A person filed an RTI seeking information about whether my visit to the temple was an official visit? If so, who did I meet and what was the discussion? I replied that it was not an official visit. I met the Almighty at the temple and had long deliberations with him. I also prayed to him to please give good sense to such people,” he remarked.

It is because people have very little faith about people in government regarding use of taxpayer funds at their disposal.  Even an ex-minister Shashi Tharoor was found to be staying in 5-star hotels instead of finding a more reasonable accommodation given the austerity drive of government in place at the time.  If government was more transparent of less cruel with public money, people will have no desire to waste their time in filing RTIs asking about dinners being hosted, or temples being visited by any government official.  That trust has yet to be built by government representatives.  Decrying use of RTI as blackmail is not going to do it!

Filed Under: RTI



Related Posts

  1. Another win for Right to information
  2. See result of giving wrong or misleading information to RTI
  3. Points from RTI Discussion on 9th May

videv

Connect With Me :

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    June 16, 2010 at 3:55 AM

    All facilities are abused by vested interests.

    Even the police are abused by some people filing false FIRs and making false cases. Did we ban police for that ?

    Knife for cutting fruits is abused by some people to hurt others. Did we ban knives for that ?

    The officer should reply truthfully that his temple visits are not official therefore outside the purview of RTI. That is a simple matter.

    Reply
  2. Vinod says

    June 2, 2010 at 1:29 AM

    Really its natural those who are scared to come against it as its dangerous for their bad deeds. But I think you could have said about SM Krishna was found to be staying in 5-star hotel as Tharoor was found spending money from his pocket.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To prevent spam bots, pls enter answer below! * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.

DOWNLOAD FREE eBook PDF: Surviving the Legal Jungle

Surviving-the-Legal-Jungle-Cover-Image

Contact me

Contact me for any queries on RTI or Consumer (medical cases only) related issues

Recent Posts

  • Aarogya Setu app – How it works and handles Data Privacy, Upload, Storage, and Deletion
  • Download Motor Vehicles Act and Rules including 2019 amendments with higher traffic fines and penalties (bare acts)
  • How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order
  • Tata Sky has a major service outage since Mar 11, 2015
  • How to file a consumer court/forum complaint in Delhi

Popular Posts

  • How to file a consumer court complaint (in Bangalore) 178k views
  • Consumer forum/court template for Bangalore 36.6k views
  • Alternatives to use before filing consumer court complaint in India 27.5k views
  • How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order 23.6k views
  • ICICI Bank: failure to login to internet banking is consistent for last 3-4 months! 12.7k views
  • Tatkal booking experience, tips, and lessons learnt 12.3k views
  • How to file RTI application for Income tax refund 10.7k views
  • Contact 9.4k views
  • Discussion points of first RTI Session in L B Shastri Nagar 6.6k views
  • Bare Act of RTI – Right to Information Act 2005 6.5k views

Recent Comments

  • videv on How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order
  • TL on How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order
  • videv on How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order
  • Ajay D on How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order
  • videv on How to file Execution affidavit after winning consumer forum case if opposite party does not obey court order

Category Specific RSS

All Topics
RTI
Consumer
Commentary

On Facebook

Vivek Deveshwar

Copyright 2005-2017 · Privacy Policy · Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy