New Delhi: A law student and Right to Information (RTI) activist has pointed out that some departments of the Delhi government have been flouting the rules by giving out the address and contact details of the applicants, and thereby putting the lives of those seeking information at peril.Following a large number of attacks on RTI activists, the Calcutta high court (HC) had in 2013 and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) had in 2016 passed orders for not disclosing the personal information of the applicants on the websites.The RTI activist, Aniket Gaurav, who administers a twitter handle ‘The Legal Squad’, had brought to the notice of the Delhi government that the web portals of Delhi Jal Board and Tihar Jail were both uploading the personal information of the applicants – which included their name, designation, address, e-mail id and mobile number.Gaurav pointed out that the public authorities were barred from doing so. He said they were not allowed to disclose these details – mentioned on either the RTI applications and appeals received or their responses – on their websites.Also read: PMO Says It Does Not Readily Know Which Trusts Are Headed by Prime MinisterGaurav said he had brought this lacuna to the notice of the Delhi government and had received a reply from the chief minister’s office stating that the matter was being looked into.However, today he tweeted that no action has been taken by the Delhi government to remove the names of the applicants from the website.On Feb 16, around 1 PM, have raised the matter by tweeting and sending emails to Office of @ArvindKejriwal and @msisodia. But, still the personal details of RTI Applicants are there on the Delhi Govt website. @SatyendarJain @kgahlot @AdvRajendraPal @raghav_chadha https://t.co/xDIaxDtyBB— TheLegalSquad (@thelegalsquad) February 18, 2021Earlier, the RTI activist was quoted as saying by a national daily that it was essential to take these details off the websites as “there are instances in the past where RTI users have been attacked.”Incidentally, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives maintains a live tracker on the deaths of RTI users on its website. Called the “Hall of Shame”, it is a tool for “mapping attacks on RTI users”.As of today, the tracker stated that 89 RTI users have been killed, 173 assaulted, 185 harassed or threatened and seven died by suicide.It was in view of such attacks on RTI activists that clear instructions were issued by both the Calcutta high court and the DoPT, which is also the nodal department for all RTI-related matters, to all public authorities to desist from revealing the personal contact details of the applicants on the websites or other fora.
