The biggest tool in the hands of an employer, whether institutional, government, private or a mix thereof, to defeat the demands of labour, whether organised or unorganised, individual or collective, is the lack of information with the workmen regarding their rights, duties, status, benefits and even the effect of their agitation under law. It is a never-ending effort of the employer to obfuscate, mystify, confuse and cloud in secrecy the exact factual matrix with regard to the employer-employee relationship. It is also common that the employer will manufacture documents and records to suit their purpose from time to time, which is possible only because the employee does not have the exact information about the same.

Till date, neither the private employers nor the state as employer maintains proper records or supplies proper information to the employees; only when disputes are raised do the employers not only take an adverse stand but also `create` records or the `absence of records` to support their own case. When an employee requests for the information, the employer does not provide the information or the relevant records to him. In these circumstances, the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 is a useful tool for the labour to demystify factual confusion.

The RTI is, in essence, a tool for empowerment of the have-nots and the victims of bureaucracy to obtain correct information about his/her relationship with the employer, the public and the law as applicable. The RTI not only gives a right to the employee/labour to obtain the necessary information but also imposes a duty on the employer to provide the same. In fact, if the employer falls within the definition of public authority under Section 2(h) of the RTI, any citizen, not necessarily an employee, can ask for and obtain the requested information. This includes financial information. Though the Act was originally conceived to increase transparency and responsibility in government action, in relation to public authorities, it can assist labour in understanding the working of employers.

In order to understand the impact of RTI on labour relations, it is important to know what information can be demanded under the Act. Section 2(f) defines `information` as “any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force…”

The records maintained by the public authority, as per Section 2(i), include “(i) any document, manuscript and file; (ii) any microfilm, microfiche and facsimile copy of a document; (iii) any reproduction of image or images embodied in such microfilm (whether enlarged or not); and (iv) any other material produced by a computer or any other device…”

Under the Act, the RTI has been defined in Section 2(j) as “the right to information…held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to (i)  inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts, or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device…”

This implies that information of any nature and in any form falls under the scope of the Act and must be made available to all citizens on demand.

The RTI is quite different from the other laws because it does not govern the relationship of a particular nature between two or more sets of parties, but rather creates and codifies a right of citizens (including employees), which earlier either did not exist, or was not heeded to by public authorities.

Thus, under the RTI, employees can obtain information regarding the records kept by a public authority, acting as an employer, about their employment, relevant orders, communications, etc., regarding the same, including the alleged policy under which the said public authorities claim to act. More importantly, the employee can also obtain financial data regarding the funding of the concerned public authority and the restrictions placed on it by funding agencies (whether government or otherwise) and how the same affect employment.

The practical impact of the RTI and the rights enforced thereunder can be best investigated by looking at some examples.

An employee of a government corporation or body is retired on the basis of the alleged date of birth recorded in the employer`s records. The employee has no knowledge of the dates mentioned in the said records because it is normally recorded at the time of employment by the employer`s officers. Under the RTI, the employee will be entitled to obtain at any time, during his employment, the entire records in relation to his initial employment and the subsequent records maintained by the employer.

Even the exact terms and conditions of his employment can be obtained so that the employer is not able to alter, amend or create records. The latter is a favourite tool in the hands of the employer to declare any regularly employed employee as a daily wager or work-charged employee.

In many situations, the public authority, at the time of dispute, claims that although it is willing to grant the benefit to the concerned employee, it is prevented from giving the benefit such as recruiting as a regular employee and providing a living wage to the employee by the directions, circulars, memos and orders of the controlling government, the funding agencies, etc. The RTI can be utilised to find out whether such restrictions, if any, were imposed and the nature thereof. We would find many instances in which such restrictions either do not exist or did not exist at the time of initial appointment.

One can also have access to the internal correspondence and memos exchanged between the officers of the employer, which would indicate the actual stand of the employer, including the changes made from time to time. The perusal of such documents would also show the frequent malafide and exploitative reasons for the various actions of the officers of the employer in denying the just and legal benefits and rights of the employees.

In case a workman/employee is charge sheeted, he can obtain the record of the employer to find out the correct and actual reasons for being charge sheeted and also what actual material is available with the employer. In cases of motivated charge sheets, the mere threat of having to provide such documents may reduce the fabricated cases being levied. On the other hand, if the employee is aware of the substantial material with the employer against him, he may also come to a settlement with the employer.

There is however one area, in which an employer-employee relationship is not covered by the RTI. The said Act does not apply to private employers not financed, controlled, funded or run by the state, whether at the national or state levels. However, the Act, as per Section 4, lays down the obligation of a public authority, defined in Clause (h) of Section 2 of the Act, to appoint public information officers and maintain all records and provide the information requested in an application under Section 6 thereof.

Public authority is defined as “any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted by or under the Constitution; by any other law made by Parliament; by any other law made by State Legislature; by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government and includes any body or non-government organisation owned, controlled or substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government…”

It is, therefore, apparent that private employers or those employers who are not included in the above definition of public authority are not covered by the said Act. Though employment in government offices, government companies, Public Sector Undertakings, independent Authorities set up by the state and the central governments and other such organisations and institutions, which fall within the definition of `state` under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, compose a very large portion of employees/ workmen, the private sector also employs a hugely substantial number of workers. It is, therefore, necessary for the legislature to ultimately find a via media to include private employers within the ambit of the RTI Act. It is noteworthy that as far as confidential financial information is concerned, the same would be exempted from disclosure even by public authorities under Section 8 of the Act, which already provides for the same.

However, at present, private employers are not covered by the provisions of the Act unless they fall within the limited scope of Section 2(h)(d)(ii), which applies the Act to non government organisations financed directly or indirectly by substantial funds provided by the government. Until the appropriate amendment is made, the application of RTI is limited to government and semi-government employers.