RTI Act – The Abridged Version
For most of us who have been having difficulty understanding the intricacies of the law, here is a simplified version.
Please download from here and forward this page to all your friends.
Jai Hind
For more info on what is omitted and what is included, please go through the email that I received from my friend Krish who is a Loksatta activist in India.
The Right to Information Act 2005 has nearly 10,800 words in over 31 sections, and very complicated sentences. Most of it does not concern the RTI applicant or appellant, and can be safely omitted.
Download SIMPLIFIED & ABRIDGED VERSION: http://www.box.net/shared/n6ovb3944c
This abridged version has less than 4,300 words, and most sentences are simplified. Everything needed by RTI activists and common people 99% of the times is in it. Important parts for information-seekers – both applicants and appellants — are highlighted to assist the common man.
PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS… They will thank you for helping them clearly understand the RTI Act.
WHAT IS OMITTED? Most of the words in the RTI Act are:
(a) For explaining the rationale of the RTI Act (eg. Preamble of the Act)
(b) Repetitive phrases like “Central Public Information Officer or a State Public Information Officer, as the case may be” are replaced with “PIO”. Similarly, “Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be” are replaced with “Information Commission”.
(c) Sections concerning the appointment of PIOs, terms of service of SICs, CICs and other administrative details
(d) Legal expressions such as “without prejudice to,” “provided that” and “as the case may be” which make sentences difficult to understand.
FOR EXAMPLE, Section 5(2) states:
“Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every public authority shall designate an officer, within one hundred days of the enactment of this Act, at each sub-divisional level or other sub-district level as a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, to receive the applications for information or appeals under this Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or senior officer specified under sub-section (1) of section 19 or the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission, as the case may be:
Provided that where an application for information or appeal is given to a Central Assistant Public Information Officer or a State Assistant Public Information Officer, as the case may be, a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (1) of section 7.”THE USEFUL PART of Section 5(2) for INFORMATION-SEEKERS & RTI ACTIVISTS is: “… where an application for information or appeal is given to… Assistant PIO… a period of five days shall be added in computing the period for response specified under sub-section (1) of section 7.” ALL THE REST IS OMITTED.
Other sections are similarly dealt with in the simplified and abridged version. Experts who wish to critically analyze the method of omission or abridgement may also download this file: http://www.box.net/shared/cml9r2506i