Kishan Chand Jain Vs Union of India & Ors (Supreme Court of India)
Conclusion: In present facts of the case, the Hon’ble Supreme Court have given directions to the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions to ensure proper implementation of the mandate of Section 4 of the RTI Act,
Facts: In present facts of the case, the Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India was filed by way of a PIL seeking multiple reliefs, pertaining to a direction to implement the mandate of Section 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The statutory obligations of public authorities under Section 4(1) relate to: (a) maintenance of all public records, duly catalogued and indexed for easy accessibility of the information; (b) publishing particulars of the organisational structure, functions and duties of officers, procedures that are followed for decision-making, salary structure, budget allocation, publication of facts relating to policies and announcements which includes providing reasons for quasi-judicial decisions. Sub-section (2) mandates the public authority to take steps for providing information under clause (b) of sub-section (1) suo motu and further to disseminate the said information for easy accessibility to the public.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that Section 25 gloriously integrates ‘the right to information’ of a citizen with the collective responsibility of the Government to the Legislature under Article 75(3) or 164(2) of the Constitution. At the beginning of the chain is the citizen exercising her right to information. The Public Authority obligated to provide the information is accountable to the Department. The Department, shall, in relation to the public authorities within their jurisdiction, collect and provide such information to the CIC or SIC (see Section 25(2)). The CIC or SIC shall then prepare a ‘Report’ on the implementation of the provisions of the Act during the year and forward a copy to the appropriate Government (see Section 25(1)). The ‘Report’ prepared by the CIC or SIC is mandated to comprise all details specified in Clauses (a) to (g) of Section 25(3). The Central or the State Government shall cause a copy of the Report of the CIC/SIC be laid before Parliament/Legislative Assembly (Section 25(4)). It is then for the House, representing the will of the people, to ensure that the confidence reposed by it in the Council of Ministers (Government) is affirmed. Thus, the circle of representative democracy connects supremacy of the Parliament with the right of the citizen by ensuring that the State performs its obligations. This is the primary principle of accountability.
Further it was observed that Power and accountability go hand in hand. While declaring that all citizens shall have the ‘right to information’ under Section 3 of the Act, the co-relative ‘duty’ in the form of obligation of public authorities is recognized in Section 4. The core of the right created under Section 3 in reality rests on the duty to perform statutory obligations. Public accountability is a crucial feature that governs the relationship between ‘duty bearers’ and ‘right holders’. Reliance was made upon the Judgment of Vijay Rajmohan v. CBI, wherein it was held as follows:
