Balance must be struck between RTI and privacy: Srikrishna

The Right to Information (RTI) is an empowering tool but a balance must be struck between RTI and the fundamental right to privacy, former Supreme Court justice B N Srikrishna said here Tuesday.

He was speaking at a panel discussion on 'RTI and Public Interest Litigation (PIL)', organised by the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Rotary International district 3141.

Also present were former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, senior lawyer Milind Sathe, journalist Rahul Wadke, RTI activist Jamshed Sukhadwala and senior lawyer Jimy Pochkanawalla who moderated the discussion.

Noting that there existed an inherent "conflict" between the two rights, Justice Srikrishna said there needed to be a balance.

"What I do inside the privacy of my home, I need not come out on the street and do the same....just because one person wishes to have access to some information, it isn't necessary that all citizens must be given that information," he said.

"Therefore, the question that which of the two fundamental rights trumps over the other must be decided on a case to case basis, while considering which of the two is in the larger public interest," he added.

One can not insist on accessing crucial information on national security or details of the country's nuclear missiles claiming the right to information, he said.

Gandhi, eminent RTI activist from the city, however, pointed out that sensitive information such as that pertaining to national security is already exempted from the RTI.

The RTI Act already allows the authorities to deny information if sharing it violates the right to privacy or it pertains to security, he said.

"For matters that are not covered under such exemptions, there is no need to prove the larger public interest (to get information)," Gandhi said.

"What is divulged under the RTI is already part of government records. Therefore, there is no question of apprehension of information from someone's personal life being sought under the RTI Act," he said.

The panelists also discussed the rising trend of misuse of information availed under the RTI Act to settle scores, or for extortion, especially by using such information to file PILs.

However, all the panelists agreed that the courts were competent to weed out such motivated PILs.

While the misuse of the act was worrying, it must not be considered a reason to dilute the RTI Act or to make it difficult to access information, advocate Sathe said.