The Right to Information Act (RTI) was enacted in 2005 with mainly the aim to promote and empower transparency and accountability between citizens and government in India to achieve the goal of good governance. Although the purpose of RTI was to bring accountability and transparency, due to some recent developments , the concern of RTI becoming a ‘dead letter’ is now more eminent showcasing a drastic decline of its effectiveness.

If we examine the statistics of cases regarding RTI, we can notice that around 3.15 lakh cases are pending in different Information Commissions in India due to shortage of Information Commissions with several Commission being defunct for extended period of time. Again with adding shortage of Commissioners, the dilution of law done through RTI Amendment Act, 2019 where the autonomy of Central and State Information Commissioners are reduced by allowing Central Government to determine the terms of services of them. The fact that RTI in many cases are not utilised for necessary interests but filing many RTIs in same subject overwhelming the system.

RTI being an important tool for transparency, the factors of misuse and legislative dilution makes RTI ineffective and if not corrected will continue as ‘Dead Letter’.