Plea in SC demands direction to amend RTI Act for fixing time limit for disposal of appeals

RTI Activist Rakesh Kumar Tewari has reportedly approached the Supreme Court of India, demanding that the Centre be directed to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005, thereby fixing time limit for disposal of appeals by the Central Information Commission and state information panels.

Through the Appeal, Mr. Tewari has challenged an order passed by the Allahabad High Court, which had dismissed his PIL in 2015. Dismissing his petition, a Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Rakesh Srivastava had observed, “The reliefs aforesaid, in our view, are entirely misconceived where the petitioner seeks issuance of mandamus to the Union of India for getting a particular legislation enacted or amended. So far the appeals of the petitioner before the Commission are concerned, it is always permissible for him to make proper request for consideration by the Commission. No case for interference in this petition is made out.”

The Appeal, filed through Advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi challenges this order, and also seeks a direction to authorities in Uttar Pradesh “to supply the information as sought by the petitioner without putting conditions...” He had sought information regarding the departments of Sarju Nahar Khand at Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, claiming that the department is plagued with rampant corruption.

Mr. Tewari has alleged that the information is deliberately not being providing to him, in order to protect the officials involved in such acts of omissions and commissions. He hence claims, “All these has precipitated due to the inherent lacuna in the Right to Information Act, 2005 which does not prescribed any time limit within a fixed time without which the object and purpose for which the Act was enacted has become futile.”