RTI data during the pandemic: many departments show dip in the number of applications, but some record steep rise in rejections

VENKATESH NAYAK analyses data from the Central Information Commission's Annual Report for 2021-21 to demonstrate the frequency of rejecting RTI applications under various exemption clauses of the RTI Act used by different central public authorities and Union Territories, comparing the rejections numbers with the same for the previous year.

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WITH a 2.95 per cent dip in the number of applications under the Right to Information [RTI] Act filed across central public authorities during the pandemic year, it is only obvious that the proportion of RTI applications being rejected will also go down. Ergo, several Union Ministries have reported significant dips in rejections. However, while looking at the woods, it is also important to not miss out on the trees. After all, in the absence of trees, there would be no woods to look at.

A micro-level examination of the rejection related data, including clause-wise rejection statistics, provides a more complex picture of the manner in which RTI applications were handled across ministries and departments during the pandemic year.

For example, merely focusing on total figures with regard to rejections, will make a reader completely oblivious to the fact that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution rejected 401 RTI applications in the pandemic year by invoking the national security exemption provided for in Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act. Overall, the use of the national security exemption to reject RTI applications increased by more than 83 per cent during the pandemic year.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare employed several exemption clauses, including the exemption to Cabinet papers, which it hardly used in the past, to reject scores of RTI applications in 2020-21. The Ministry of Labour and Employment recorded a doubling of rejections under Section 24 of the RTI Act, despite not having any exempt intelligence or security organisation under its jurisdiction. Similarly, the National Capital Territory [NCT] of Delhi recorded more than 644 per cent increase in rejections during the pandemic year in comparison with its performance in 2019-20, even though the proportion of rejections was only 1.79 per cent of the total number of RTI applications processed that year.