Day 1

Chapter 1

Preamble and long title of the

Right to Information Act

Contents
Topics Included:

Introduction
Long Title
Transparency
Accountability
Preamble
Corruption
Enacting Formula

Introduction

Preamble introduces the background and

objectives of the Right to Information Act (RTI Act).
It is found between the long title and the enacting
formula of the Act.

Long Title

The long title is the formal title appearing at the

head of the Act.
It is intended to provide a summary description of
the purpose or scope of the Act.
The long title is followed by the preamble.

Long Title
An Act to provide for setting out the practical
regime of right to information for citizens to secure
access to information under the control of public
authorities, in order to promote transparency and
accountability in the working of every public
authority, the constitution of a Central Information
Commission and State Information Commissions
and for matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto.

Long Title
The objectives of RTI Act, amongst other things,
include:

setting out the practical regime of right to
information for citizens to secure access to
information under the control of public authorities

promote transparency in the working of every
public authority

promote accountability in the working of every
public authority

Transparency
UN Public Administration Glossary defines
Transparency as follows:
Transparency refers to unfettered access by the
public to timely and reliable information on
decisions and performance in the public sector, as
well as on governmental political and economic
activities, procedures and decisions.

Transparency
UK Constitution Unit defines transparency as
follows:
The ability to observe what is going on inside an
organisation - as an organisation being transparent
about its policies, procedures or activities.
Robert Hazell, Measures of Success for Freedom of Information, Paper delivered
at the 5th International Conference of Information Commissioners.
The UK Constitution Unit evaluates the impact of the Freedom of Information Act
in the UK against its policy objectives.

Transparency
The UK Constitution Unit divides this question into
a number of sub-questions and indicators, of which
the following are examples:
-Is more information placed in the public domain
through proactive means (voluntary publication of
information, disclosure logs, other)?
- Is the breadth/quality/relevance of the information
released greater under [the law]?
- Do requesters and officials believe that authorities
are more transparent as a result of [the law]?

Accountability
UN Public Administration Glossary defines
Accountability as follows:
Accountability refers to the obligation on the part
of public officials to report on the use of public
resources and answerability for failing to meet
stated performance objectives.

http://www.unpan.org/Directories/UNPublicAdministratio
nGlossary/tabid/928/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Accountability
The UK Constitution Unit defines accountability as
follows:
Giving an account of government policies,
procedures and/or decisions, whether proactively
(of ones own volition) or reactively (in response to
a request for information).
Thus accountability has two aspects: giving account
and being held to account.
Sarah Holsen and Mark Glover, Evaluating the FOIA 2000: Challenges and
Progress, The Constitution Unit, UCL, 31 Oct. 2007.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitutionunit/foidp/events/HolsenGloverEvaluatingFOIA_Slides31.10.07.pdf

Accountability
The UK Constitution Unit analyzes that in a
representative system, civil servants are
accountable to ministers, who are accountable to
their electors through parliament.
Civil Servants are nor directly accountable to
parliament. But Right to Information regime causes
officials to account directly for their actions or
decisions.

Transparency and Accountability

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
observes that Transparency and accountability are
interrelated and mutually reinforcing concepts:
Without transparency, that is, unfettered access to timely
and reliable information on decisions and performance, it
would be difficult to call public sector entities to account.
Unless there is accountability, that is, mechanisms to
report on the usage of public resources and consequences
for failing to meet stated performance objectives,
transparency would be of little value. The existence of
both conditions is a prerequisite to effective, efficient and
equitable management in public institutions.

Preamble
Preamble to the Right to Information Act states as
follows:
Transparency of information, which is vital:
 to contain corruption and
 to hold Governments and their instrumentalities
accountable to the governed

Corruption
Corruption literally means to destroy (from the Latin
corruptus). Oxford English Dictionary defines
Corruption as follows:
Guilty of dishonest practices, (such) as bribery;
without integrity; debased in character; depraved;
perverted; crooked; wicked; evil; decayed; putrid;
infected; tainted. Applies to one, esp. in public
office, who acts on mercenary motives, without
regard to honour, right or justice.

Corruption
UN Public Administration Glossary defines
Corruption as follows:
Corruption is operationally defined as the misuse
of entrusted power for private gain. Transparency
International further differentiates between
"according to rule" corruption and "against the
rule" corruption. Facilitation payments, where a
bribe is paid to receive preferential treatment for
something that the bribe receiver is required to do
by law, constitute the former. The latter, on the
other hand, is a bribe paid to obtain services the
bribe receiver is prohibited from providing.

Preamble
The legislative drafters of the Preamble might have
drawn inspiration from two significant opinions of
the United States Supreme Court. Over three
decades ago the court opined as follows:
"[t]he basic purpose of FOIA [Freedom of
Information Act] is to ensure an informed citizenry,
vital to the functioning of a democratic society,
needed to check against corruption and to hold the
governors accountable to the governed."
NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 242 (1978).

Preamble
The court had recognized law makers intention in
enacting the FOIA in the following terms:
"Congress sought 'to reach a workable balance
between the right of the public to know and the
need of the Government'" to protect certain
information.
The Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act
(2009 Edition).
John Doe Agency, 493 U.S. at 152 (quoting H.R. Rep. No. 89-1497, at
6 (1966), reprinted in1966 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2418, 2423).

Enacting Formula

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of

the Republic of India as follows:

Enacting Formula
An enacting formula, is a short phrase that
introduces the main provisions of the law.
It usually declares the source from which the law
claims to derive its authority.

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