New Delhi: Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said the RTI Act was being "misused" and officials and even judges feel the transparency law was transgressing into government functioning.
"Undoubtedly, it has been misused. But you have to weigh misuse with usefulness of the RTI Act. We would like our life to be miserable than the life of a citizen," Khurshid said.
Asked about recent remarks of Corporate Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily that the RTI Act was "transgressing into government functinoning, Khurshid said "it is not only the government officers or ministers who fee that way, judges also feel it." "There was decision by a division bench and we have an RTI application as to why one judge was silent? It is difficult to answer such queries," Khurshid told a press conference here.
However, section eight of the RTI Act gives a wide range of exemption clauses which keep out of the ambit of the transparency law some categories of information including judicial and quasi-judicial functioning of courts.
He said the RTI Act was brought after wide consultations and they are still on. Minister of state for Personnel V Narayanasamy said government has received 6.05 lakh RTI applications and 90 per cent were dispose of.
PTI