Activists urge Prez to reject amendments to RTI bill

Activists urge Prez to reject amendments to RTI bill

PUNE: City-based RTI activists have sent a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, requested him to reject the recent amendments to the RTI Act. 

On July 19, the Lok Sabha passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill which was introduced by the Union Government. RTI activists Vijay Kumbhar, Vishwambhar Choudhari, Maruti Bhapkar, Aseem Sarode, Jugal Rathi, Vivek Velankar, Vishwas Sahasrabuddhe, Ibrahim Khan, Tanmay Kanitkar, Madan Kurhe, Suniti SR had objected to the bill.   

Vijay Kumbhar said, “The amendments are aimed at undermining the independence of the information commissioners, thereby diluting India’s strongest and most widely used law for transparency and good governance.”

“There is serious doubt on the Central government’s intention as to why it is removing the conditions mentioned in the Act itself. Such provisions are made in the act to protect the independence of information commissioners. Removing these provisions and concentrating them in the hands of the Central Government will undermine the independence and autonomy of information commissioners,” said activist Vivek Velankar. 

Activist Jugal Rathi said, “With this amendment, the Central Government will decide the salary and status of information commissioners of the states. This will cause a constitutional imbalance between centre and state.”

Suniti SR said, “In the original act, the government had powers to make rules regarding officers and staff of the Information Commissioner and the procedure to be adopted by the Central Information Commissioner or State Information Commissioner, as the case may be, in deciding the appeals under sub section (10) of Section 19. However, with the amended rules, the Central Government wants to arbitrarily take over the power of making rules for appointing information commissioners and deciding their status and salaries.” 

WHAT THEY SAY
- Activist Jugal Rathi said, “With this amendment, the Central Government will decide the salary and status of CICs . This will cause a constitutional imbalance.”
- Vijay Kumbhar said, “The amendments are aimed at undermining independence of information commissioners.”

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