The Rediff Interview/ H D Shourie
'We Indians have been living in the dark for the last 50 years. On this 50th anniversary, the best gift the government could give its citizens is The Right to Know'
When he set up Common Cause, a public interest organisation in 1980, H D Shourie, a retired civil servant, never dreamt of altering the system that failed to protect the rights and privileges of the nameless, anonymous common man in India.
But 17 years later, Shourie has become the best-known face of the campaign that has set in motion a series of radical changes in governance and among political parties. Two years back, his relentless campaign forced the Supreme Court to order all political parties to file annual income tax returns. He has been the force behind the government move to set up consumer courts in all districts across the country.
And it was due to the octogenarian activist's initiative that six months ago the Union
government set up an expert committee to draft a Freedom of Information Bill. The committee, headed by Shourie, submitted its report to the government last fortnight.
If the Bill becomes law, government departments across the country will be under obligation to provide any information an ordinary citizen seeks.
In an exclusive interview to George Iype, Shourie -- father of celebrated journalist Arun Shourie, Outlook publisher Deepak Shourie and television anchor Nalini Singh -- talks about why he fights for the
victims of the system and how the right to information Bill will herald an 'open government' in the country.
What prompted you to take up the common man's cause?
As a civil servant I worked for the Government of India for more than 30 years. Throughout my career, I was faced with numerous complaints from ordinary citizens. But being in the government I could not do much to ameliorate their plight. Also, there is no effective mechanism to solve the people's problems. Therefore, when I retired, I was full of zeal to help victims of the system. Thus, I launched Common Cause much before the consumer movement became fashionable in India.
I selected the word Common Cause because there is a similar organisation in the United States. I wrote to Common Cause in the US and asked its permission to use the same name for my organisation. They agreed. But there is no affiliation between the two. I got it registered under the Society Registration Act and opened its membership to everybody. We have now more than 5,000 members -- individual, life and organisational members.
What are the major public interest cases that Common Cause has taken up?
We have taken up a large number of public causes in the last 17 years. The first case we took up was the problems faced by government pensioners. The government in 1980 increased the pension for its retired employees. But the government notification stipulated that the pension increase was effective for those servants who retired after April 1, 1979. I asked the government why it was being denied to those who retired before April 1, 1979. The government said the liberalisation of pension cannot be retrospective, it can be only prospective.
Common Cause appealed to the government not to discriminate against the pensioners. But the government did not relent. Ultimately, I took the matter to the Supreme Court and the court upheld my contention saying there could not be any distinction between one pensioner and another. The government was thus forced to extend the pension benefits to government servants who retired before 1979.
Similarly, the government order on family pension also smacked of discrimination. When a government pensioner dies, his wife is entitled to the family pension. But the government had laid down in 1964 that pensions to widows would be only applicable to those who died after April 1, 1964. Common Cause contested this in court and the government was ordered not to discriminate between widows. These pension cases I fought and won have benefited some four million pensioners in the country.
How many such cases have you taken up all these years?
I have filed 70 writ petitions in the court, most of them in the Supreme Court and the Delhi high court, under the platform of Common Cause. The organisation has also taken up thousands of cases before consumer courts and the National Commissions for Women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Minorities etc. I receive thousands of letters and complaints from common people. But Common Cause is a small organisation and often we are unable to take up many cases. However, we direct them to the concerned government departments and ministries.
What do you propose to achieve by the Freedom of Information Bill?
The Indian government in the last 50 years has been functioning on the lines of the colonial administration.
From the British colonial rulers, along with Independence, we also inherited the veil of secrecy in
government departments. There is now no transparency and accountability in the functioning of the
government. Haven't the Indian people the right to know or find out what is happening to their complaints?
Everyone wants to know when will their complaints be solved and how will it be solved. People yearn for
transparency, but that is one thing the government abhors.
Common Cause has been writing to the government on the need for a legislation that could bring transparency and accountability in various departments. Six months back, then prime minister H D Deve Gowda invited me to head a committee that was told to prepare a draft bill on the matter. The committee, apart from me and legal expert Soli Sorabjee included several secretaries of government departments.
What difference can the Bill make in the common man's life?
The fundamental behind the Bill is that the provision of information to citizens should be a rule and
withholding it should be made an exception. Corruption in India today is a product of secrecy. For instance, when the government comes out with a tender, people across the country should know on what basis it has been accepted and rejected. Secrecy breeds corruption and inefficiency. But information on demand should be available to every citizen in India and only this can make the country less corrupt.
But don't you think it has a dangerous side too. Will the Bill force the government to provide information to anyone on vital areas like defence, security or international relations?
No. We have earmarked certain areas on which the government need not be duty-bound to provide information. We have clearly spelt out these areas in this Bill. They include, for instance, information relating to the security and integrity of the country, India's relations with other countries or the relations between the Centre and states. We have also excluded areas like defence from the Bill's purview. Similarly, matters that would invite breach of privilege of Parliament and contempt of court are also exempted.
We have suggested that the government should appoint public information officers in all departments and
ministries. The legislation should also be applicable throughout all the states in the country.
Have you proposed that the government supply information to the people on demand?
We have recommended that the public relation officers should receive people's applications for information and within a period of 30 days they should be supplied with the information. If it is not supplied in 30 days, the applicants then have the right to ask for a review before the head of the department. If the head of department also does not give the information within 30 days, then the applicant can go to the court.
I do not think the government will dare not to supply the right information. Because by withholding the information, the government departments will have no other business but to be dragged to the courts across the country.
Supply of information should be made a service and if there is a deficiency in such a service, people can drag the government to the courts.
Is there any similar freedom of information legislation existing in some other countries?
Certainly. Such a legislation is in operation in the US, United Kingdom and Canada.
But for information to be freed from the veil of secrecy, what are the obstacles that have to be removed from the 'system'?
Along with this legislation, we have recommended that the government should remove some of the major
impediments in its functioning. The first thing is to make radical changes in the Official Secrets Act.
The 100-year-old Act -- a legacy of the British days -- has a provision under Section 5 which strictly restricts that any government official who comes to know of anything of the functioning of the government cannot give that information to anybody. If he does, he will be sentenced to imprisonment. This draconian rule in a democratic country like India has to be removed.
Secondly, there are provisions in the Indian Evidence Act, Sections 123 and 124 which disable a person from giving information before a court. We have suggested that these sections should be modified.
Thirdly, there is something called the Government Servant Contact Rules. In these rules, which have been
operating for a number of decades, there are a number of restrictions.
Under these rules, there is a methodology called classification of documents in the government. Thus, government servants are permitted to classify documents as 'top secret, secret and confidential.' But tragically, as per these rules, even a lower division clerk in India writes 'top secret, secret and confidential' on top of the files. This should be done away with. The classification of files under secret codes should be made mandatory only at the top secretary level.
Considering the radical changes that the Bill has recommended, do you think the government will make it a legislation?
I personally think the government will pass the legislation as political objection to the Bbill has been minimal. What we ask for is simple: A transparent government.
But there are a number of similar legislation in India which are completely overlooked by various government departments. For instance, there is the Child Labour Prohibition Act, which bans child labour in India. But the government has never cared to implement the legislation.
Yes, there are a number of toothless legislation in India. But, slowly and surely, there has been a momentum among consumers and social activists on the need to make the government act on this legislation. People in India have become quite conscious of their rights. For instance, the Consumer Protection Act, which was enacted by Parliament in 1986, has been quite a successful legislation. There are now more than 800,000 cases under trial in various consumer courts across the country.
Similarly, the Freedom of Information Bill too will unshackle the government from the veil of secret files, deals and contracts. It will make the people know what is happening in the government.
We Indians have been living in the dark for the last 50 years. On this 50th anniversary of India's Independence, the best gift that the government could give its citizens is The Right to Know.
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