B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 8 Right to Information 2021 Mar Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: the colonial inheritance of secrecy (Official Secrets Act 1923, sections 123 and 124 of the Evidence Act 1872); the Constitution and Article 19(1)(a); the judicial recognition of the right to know (Raj Narain 1975, S.P. Gupta 1981, Cricket Association of Bengal 1995, Dinesh Trivedi 1997, Association for Democratic Reforms 2002, PUCL 2003); the international background (UN resolution 59(I), Article 19 of the UDHR); the people's movement (MKSS, Beawar, NCPRI); the drafts of 1993 to 1997, including the Shourie Working Group; the State laws from 1997; the Freedom of Information Act 2002; a timeline.

Stage 1: a culture of secrecy (to 1950)

Government in British India worked on the assumption that official papers belonged to the Government, not to the people. Two laws carried this assumption.

1. The Official Secrets Act 1923 punished spying and the wrongful communication of official information. It did not define "secret", so almost any paper could be treated as one.

Stage 3: the courts recognise the right to know (1975 to 2003)

1. State of U.P. v. Raj Narain, AIR 1975 SC 865. In an election case against the Prime Minister, the State claimed privilege for the "Blue Book" on her security. Mathew J said in a government of responsibility "there can but few secrets". The people "have a right to know every public act". He said this right "is derived from the concept of freedom of speech".

2. S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 149. The Government claimed class privilege for its letters with the Chief Justices on a Judge's non-continuation. Bhagwati J held that open government is "the direct emanation from the right to know". Disclosure "must be the rule and secrecy an exception". The letters were disclosed.

3. Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting v. Cricket Association of Bengal, AIR 1995 SC 1236. The right to impart and receive information was held to be "a species of the right of freedom of speech and expression".

2. Jan sunwai. At public hearings, official records of village works were checked against what the villagers said, exposing false payments. The slogan was "Hamara paisa, hamara hisaab": our money, our accounts.
3. Beawar. A mass meeting at Beawar in September 1995 made the first public demand for a law. A forty-day dharna at Chang Gate followed in 1996.
4. NCPRI. The National Campaign for People's Right to Information was formed in 1996 to press for a national law.

Stage 5: the drafts (1993 to 1997)

1. 1993. The Consumer Education and Research Council, Ahmedabad, proposed a draft law.
2. 1996. The Press Council of India, under Justice P.B. Sawant, presented a model law. It was later revised as the PCI-NIRD Freedom of Information Bill 1997.
3. 1997. In January 1997 the Central Government set up a Working Group on right to information and open government under H.D. Shourie. It reported on 21 May 1997 with a draft Freedom of Information Bill.

Stage 6: the States lead (1997 to 2004)

Before Parliament acted, several States passed their own laws:

The demand for a stronger law led to the Right to Information Bill of December 2004. Its Statement of Objects and Reasons said the 2002 Act needed to be made "more progressive, participatory and meaningful". The Bill became the Right to Information Act 2005, and section 31 repealed the 2002 Act.

Why each stage fell short

Each stage added something, and each left a gap.

1. The courts declared the right, but a writ petition is slow and costly. A labourer cannot file one for a muster roll.
2. The movement created demand and showed how records expose corruption. But it had no legal power to compel disclosure.
3. The State laws gave procedures, but many lacked independent appeals or real penalties, and they did not reach the Central Government.
4. The 2002 Act reached the Centre, but it left the final appeal with the Government and punished no one. It was never brought into force.

Conclusion. Before 2005, freedom of information in India grew in stages. Colonial laws made secrecy the rule. The Constitution's guarantee of free speech gave the courts a foundation, and from Raj Narain in 1975 they built a right to know. The MKSS and the NCPRI turned it into a popular demand, and the States legislated first. The Freedom of Information Act 2002 was the first central law but never came into force. That history explains why the RTI Act 2005 was given an independent Commission and personal penalties.