India is a democracy and hence the “rule of the people, by the people, for the people” should prevail.
Citizens are the rulers and owners of the nation. They give legitimacy to their elected members who then appoint public servants to service the citizens.
The logical outcome is that all information held by the government is held on behalf of citizens and therefore they should have free access to it.
Many Supreme Court judgements, too, have held that Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech and expression, includes the right to publish and the right to information.
Article 19(2) of the Constitution permits reasonable restrictions on the fundamental right to free speech in the “interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence”.
The Right to Information Act mandates in Section 4 that access to all records must be facilitated easily “so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information”.
The default position laid down by Parliament is that “subject to the provisions of this Act, all citizens shall have the right to information”. Thus,…
