We all owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Gandhi. If it was not for public spirited citizens like him, the common man in India would be helpless before the power of govt to do as it pleases.

By any measure, this is a landmark judgment of the Apex Court and now, it is for the government and enlightened citizens to ‘use’ it in the right spirit, in public interest. The Supreme Court’s observations like, “The facts reveal that as banks are trying to cover up their underhand actions, they are even more liable to be subjected to public scrutiny” should open the eyes of both government and the institutions and by infusing transparency in transactions avoid similar indictments in future. Our legal framework, which has British origin and has not yet been ‘democratised’, insulates masters against action by servants and institutions (both in private and public sector) from litigations by clientele in several situations. Beyond citizen’s right to information, transparency issues in the conduct of statutory bodies and government departments which enjoy certain rights and privileges because of the nature of responsibilities entrusted to them need to be addressed.
The temptation on the part of government to bring in ‘ownership rights’ or on the part of regulators and supervisors to take shelter under provisions of the statute book meant to protect institutions and their clientele from embarrassment in exceptional situations, in a routine manner, should be avoided.
The observations of the Apex Court goes much beyond the issue of parting with information under RTI Act. Without fighting this from a mere legal or prestige angle to protect the image, by falling back on the secrecy clauses, RBI and other institutions need to go by the spirit of the observations by the highest court.
A quick gesture could be to initiate measures to make public, information the central bank is in possession and considers useful for banks’ clientele in deciding their relationship with individual banks. If legal provisions stand in the way, they should be got amended, as ‘ease to do business’ include information about the profile of the institution with which a customer deals.
M G Warrier, Mumbai

Congratulations Shailesh for such clear orders as a CIC . We can only hope for this remarkably good and clear judgement from the Supreme Court will bring in better days for citizens who exercise the right to information.