Let us not bring disrepute to great institutions by individual actions (RTI related)

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge - Benjamin Disraeli

Do we have to hide when there’s nothing wrong ?

Of course not. And that’s why I say, the RTI Act should be implemented in spirit and not just in letter. It has changed the way we look towards the govt and how the govt looks at its citizens. The services as a whole have implemented and adopted the Act in a genuine and welcoming manner, despite the fact that due to some strange logic, the CPOs have been kept outside the purview of the Act by virtue of Section 24 but the defence services are very much amenable to it. So there you have it, RTI does not apply to the BSF or Assam Rifles but it applies to the Army. But that is not the point I want to make here.

Most of the times, our RTI machinery, especially after the job was entrusted to the Education Branch, is judicious and very much careful in the application of the RTI Act. But sometimes we goof up and we goof up bad, and in the bargain the entire organisation suffers a bad name when the discredit should entirely go to those particular officers who handled that particular case. The problem remains in the holy cowish attitude ensconced in some of us. Some of us try to make sure how to look for ways to somehow put impediments in public life and derive sadistic pleasure out of it rather than create a conducive environment for outflow of information and transparency. This attitude ultimately invites bad press and brickbats instead of the bouquets that the forces truly deserve. This is the era of information and not of confidentiality, period.

The other day, I was asked by an officer if we could disseminate copies of the Regulations of the Army (DSR) to RTI applicants and whether it was not a confidential document. Some applicant had desired a copy of the para dealing with retirement ages of officers. Damn I thought to myself. The entire DSR has been uploaded on the net on the official army website, it’s a public document to the hilt determining service conditions of our personnel then what the hell was confidential about it ?. Record Offices have been refusing medical board documents based on some dim-witted diktat issued by someone sitting in the office of DGAFMS which says that medical board documents should not be supplied under the RTI Act unless directed by the CIC. Michel de Montaigne had once said ‘he who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak’. Is this a bloody joke ?, the RTI Act is an Act of the Parliament, Medical Board documents are documents concerning one’s own medical condition, how in the world can they be held back ?. And why do you want people to approach the CIC and cause loss to own exchequer and burden on own legal machinery when you damn well know that the CIC has in the past held that such documents have to be supplied ?. In fact I personally once saw a letter received from a Regimental Records Office stating that a clarification had been sought (a year back) from the DGAFMS on the issue and the medical documents would only be disseminated once a reply is received. Fine, so now the M-Block has more authority than an Act of Parliament & the CIC, and that Record Officer would wait for years for a clarification in utter disregard of law rather than implement RTI requests within 30 days as provided under the Act. This veil of secrecy should be shunned. The more we hide, the more people would think there is something shady or devious ultimately bringing disrepute to our great organisation due to our own individual actions and non-application of mind. Only those documents can be held back which are directly hit by the prohibitions mentioned in Section 8 of the RTI Act.

Why the above thought came to my mind was this. One mother whose son had died in an operational area (was declared a suicide) had sought documents related to the Court of Inquiry and post-mortem of her son’s death. The reply provided to her was very interesting – that the RTI Act is not applicable to J&K and that not being under the Army Act she was not entitled to any CoI proceedings. Pray tell us, the Act through a decision of the CIC has been made applicable to central govt servants even in missions outside India and here we are talking of our very own India. Perhaps the officer shooting off that reply forgot to browse the Indian Army’s official website which lists out PIOs and RTI Appellate authorities for the Northern Command, all based in J&K. Perhaps his insensitivity of human life took the better of him, otherwise who would refuse a mother the documents of her son’s death or his post-mortem and to analyse this situation in the light of the fact that the deceased was a Shaurya Chakra awardee and that the officer’s father had also died after hearing about his death, makes me want to hang my own head in shame. What a monumental goof up for our organisation by some of our own. If everything is right, then why hide ?. Individual actions like these bring disrepute to the defence services. Visitors on this blog have oft talked of accountability and transparency in bureaucracy, I would say let’s start with ourselves first and reflect it in our own little ways. Things should never come to such a pass. By the way, the CIC has now held that Court of Inquiry proceedings are under the purview of the RTI Act and all central govt organisations in J&K are under the RTI Act. Of course we can always hold back information from a CoI which may be a threat to national security.

Cloak of secrecy never works, after all, as Benjamin Franklin said, 'Three may keep a secret only if two of them are dead'.