At a time when his government is battling corruption charges and some of his own ministers have said the Right to Information Act is affecting government functioning,the Prime Minister today admitted the need for a critical look at the law. I think we need to remember 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 process of making the final decisions. The RTI should not adversely affect the deliberative processes in the government, he said. Speaking at the annual convention of Information Commissioners here,the prime minister also stressed that RTI must not end up discouraging honest,well-meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views. While calling the RTI a huge step forward in the direction of curbing corruption and improving the process of governance,he also warned against frivolous complaints. A situation in which a public authority is flooded with requests for information having no bearing on public interest is something not desirable, the prime minister said,asking information commissioners to come up with suggestions on ways to deal with the same. Chief Information Commissioner Satyendra Mishra said RTI was perhaps the second most important legal document after the Constitution. Underlining the need for financial autonomy,he urged that the government make Information Commissions constitutional authorities.
