The Freedom of Information Act, 2002 was not notified or enforced as the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 was replaced by the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The right to access information has been recognized by the Indian Supreme Court for decades as a constitutionally protected fundamental right. Since 1997, State Governments have been taking the lead in enacting legislation setting out the framework for implementing the right in practice. There was no such legislation enacted by the then State Governments that led the people to rely on the Constitutional right if they needed information only by approaching High Court or Supreme Court. People should not be expected to undertake litigation in the High Court and/or Supreme Court every time they require a simple piece of information from their government. This led to the proposal of the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act,2002.
The primary objective of the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 was to frame a system and common people-friendly method which enables normal citizens to acquire appropriate information from the Government bodies. The other objective was to impose a particular duty on the Governing bodies to furnish information that acknowledges the citizen’s right to information, a fundamental right enshrined by the Indian Constitution.
Yes. The Freedom of Information Act, 2002 was a central Act but the subject matter of concurrent list and therefore State also have enacted laws relating to the right to information.
No. According to sec.1 of the Act, 2002, the extension of the act is exempted to Jammu and Kashmir.
The inconsistent provisions of the Act, 2002 are:
Sec.3 of the Act, 2002, restricted the freedom of information only to the citizens.
Sec. 4 to 12 of the Act, 2002, emphasized the duties and responsibilities of the public authorities rather than emphasizing the people's fundamental right to information and their protection.
Sec.15 of the Act, 2002, barred the jurisdiction of the Courts that may render the public authorities powerful and biased when grievances arise.
The authorities who can provide information are offices of the Central Government, the State Government, the Central Government in the Union Territory, and the public authorities that were instituted, possessed, and significantly financed by the Central and State Governments.
All Indian Citizens are entitled to have the freedom to acquire information.
The access, under the Act, 2002, is available to the pieces of information relating to the administration, operations, or decisions of public authorities in the form of certified copies of any records, printouts of any form of electronic documents, and also the discs and floppies derived from the electronic devices which contain the required information of the public authority. Also, all the citizens are allowed to inspect and take out extracts and notes.
The public authorities are responsible to maintain all its records, publish the particulars of functions and duties of its organization, important decisions and policies of the organization which affects the public, and also the reasons for the decisions to those people who are affected by such decision.
The Public Information Officer is the officer who is responsible for the dissemination of information to the public at the request under the Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
The information if disclosed affects the sovereignty and integrity of India, endangers the security of the State, affects the strategic scientific and economic interest of India, those pieces of information which include public safety and order, detection and investigation of an offense or prejudicially affect the fair trial, the disclosure of information which affects the conduct of Centre-State relations, and also the information regarding the diplomatic discussions, commercial secrets, and the matters affecting the privileges of Parliament and legislative assembly are not available for public access according to the Freedom of Information Act, 2002. The exception is that all the above pieces of information which are 25 years old are available at the public request.
The requests for information are refused mainly based on the nature of the request when the request is too general and when the requests seek the information that has been published or bound to be legally published by the concerned authority, and also the requests related to untoward invasion of any person’s privacy.
Yes. There is a provision under Sec.11 of the Act, 2002 which allows the Public Information Officer to provide third party information with the permission of the respective third party.
Under Sec.12 of the Act, 2002, an appeal may be preferred by the aggrieved person to the prescribed central or state authority and the second appeal may be referred to the competent authority.
No. According to Sec.15 of the Act, 2002, the court shall not entertain any suits or complaints or applications on the subject matter of the Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
Yes. According to Sec.14 of the Act, 2002 shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
