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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Lok Sabha passes Bill amending RTI Act amidst strong objection from Opposition

Lok Sabha passes Bill amending RTI Act amidst strong objection from Opposition

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published Published on Jul 23, 2019   modified Modified on Jul 23, 2019
-The Hindu

Opposition accuses the government of trying to dilute the effectiveness of the law

New Delhi:
The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 three days after it was introduced. It seeks to amend the landmark transparency law and bring in changes involving the salaries and tenures of Information Commissioners (ICs) at the States and Centre.

As per the amendment ICs — who currently have five-year tenures — will have “terms as may be prescribed by the central government” and salaries, instead of being on par with that of Election Commission officials, will be decided by the Central government.

Speaker Om Birla announced that the Bill was passed with 218 ‘yes’ votes as against 79 ‘no’ votes.

The Bill states that the functions being carried out by the Election Commission of India and the Central and State Information Commissions are totally different. The Election Commission is a Constitutional body. On the other hand the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commission are statutory bodies established under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The Bill saw sharp opposition with allegations that the government was trying to dilute the effectiveness of the law. Some MPs even called it the ‘RTI Elimination Bill.’

Leader of the Congress in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “The amendments they (Centre) are trying to bring are dangerous. They are trying to attack our democratic right to information. This government wants to keep a tab on the Commission, and kill its freedom.”

Mr. Chowdhury also accused the government of not having distributed copies of the Bill to members of the House two days in advance.

“This Bill is removing the two greatest armours of institutional independence and on top of that, by controlling the State Information Commissioners, by taking over the power to determine their salaries, the Central government is destroying it,” Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said.

“Are you bringing this amendment because an Information Commissioner asked the PMO to reveal the PM’s educational details? What is the hurry in bulldozing every Bill without scrutiny? Why is the government delaying constituting the parliamentary standing committees?”

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The Hindu, 22 July, 2019, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lok-sabha-passes-bill-amending-rti-act-amidst-strong-objection-from-opposition/article28650449.ece?homepage=true


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