NAC wants provision to protect whistleblowers

“RTI does not hamper governance and a law which is bringing transparency in the system cannot be considered as transgressing government functioning,” NAC member and former IAS officer Harsh Mander said, reacting to the views expressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some Union Ministers.

Asked about the reasons for government advocating for “critical review” of the Act, the bureaucrat-turned-activist said “these are efforts to pull back the existing law because there is an inherent tendency in the establishment to resist any such law or effort through which the government functioning can be questioned”.

Mander asserted: - "if at all changes are required, they should be for expanding the process of transparency and deepening the process of social audit".

Similar views were echoed by another NAC member N C Saxena, who opined that RTI has brought efficiency in the delivery process because it has made government accountable to people and this cannot be called as hampering government functioning.

Vehemently opposing any attempt to tamper the existing law, Saxena said: “Only those who want to make money, those who want to flout laws and enjoy unaccountable power and authority want dilution of the law through the changes they want.”

Saxena said NAC constituted to provide policy and legislative inputs to government with special focus on social policy and the rights of the disadvantaged groups has recommended few changes in the transparency Act, but they are for strengthening the law, not to weaken it.

Saxena said it is the power of this transparency law that has unearthed several scandals in the past. Attacks on RTI activists, who have been using this law to draw information from government departments and expose maladministration, show the efficacy and strength of this law, he said.

Both Mander and Saxena advocated strong provisions to provide security to whistleblowers. “The government should bring a strong Act to protect those who use RTI. We have lost many activists in the past because of lack of such a provision,” Mander said.

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