India has entered the 20th year of the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, a landmark law giving powers to people who seek accountability and transparency in governance.

India’s first chief information commissioner, Wajahat Habibullah, says that a rising number of RTI applications shows that more and more people are making use of the law.

But have information commissions become retirement sanctuaries? Can more penalties on officials for not sharing information prove to be a deterrent? How does he see the recent amendments to the Act? Has a privacy clause in the Digital Personal Data Protection Act further weakened RTI?

In a conversation with Newslaundry, the former CIC shares his views on why government officials are now more guarded.

On 4 lakh pending applications across the country, the former civil servant says, “It would be alarming in my case because the information commission was set up to expedite the whole process. That is why it was not left to the courts.”

On the journey the RTI Act has taken over the years, he says, “It is not a question of accountability of government. It is a question of transparency and accountability of governance, which you can imagine is much wider. Because in governance, it is including the judiciary, the executive, the legislature and the media.”

Wajahat Habibullah cites the example of the government seeking applications for freedom fighter pensions as a case of the government not having any records. He also points out that there was supposed to be a research institute to give feedback to the commission but it “has not come up at all”.

Watch.