Moneylife Foundation organised a webinar with retired Central Information Commisioner (CIC) and RTI evangelist Shailesh Gandhi, on understanding the misuse of the RTI Act by applicants and the misinterpretation by Information Officers.
Mr Gandhi began his presentation by providing a short list of common causes of how the RTI Act has been misused by applicants. This included filing multiple RTI applications for seemingly frivolous reasons, to blackmail or by citizens who felt a personal injustice could be undone by information revealed under RTI.
He then systematically went through the exemptions of the RTI Act, under which an information officer can reject the application. Explaining each clause of the Act, Mr Gandhi also provided important tips on tackling each exemption and wrongful rejection under the Act.
The webinar was concluded with a Q&A with Mr Gandhi where he took questions from the attendees on personal matters relating to RTI and how they can use the act to get resolution. It was attended by 120 people across Zoom, YouTube and Facebook channels.
Video recording of the webinar can be viewed below: