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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | N-safety bill route to amend RTI irks CIC

N-safety bill route to amend RTI irks CIC

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published Published on Apr 2, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 2, 2012
-The Times of India
 
A letter from the office of India's Central Information Commission to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently raises serious concerns over two proposals to amend the Right to Information Act through the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA) Bill 2011, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha last September.

The first amendment seeks to exempt sensitive information on nuclear radiation safety issues and commercially sensitive information on technology holders from the RTI Act. "The existing provisions of Section 8(1)(a) and 8(1)(d) provide adequate protection for the legitimate needs of information which should not be disclosed. I truly believe that there is no need to amend the RTI Act for this purpose. The record of RTI applications disposed of by the Department of Atomic Energy and its associated units clearly shows that the existing provisions under Section 8 are more than adequate for protecting sensitive information about nuclear energy facilities," writes Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi in his letter to the PM.

The second amendment looks at insulating regulatory bodies that will oversee nuclear facilities established for strategic and national defense purposes from the RTI Act. Gandhi's letter says that the clause of the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill under which these regulatory bodies will be established does not fit the criteria for exclusion given in the RTI.

"Further, the NSRA Bill makes disclosure of information about such bodies a punishable offence. This clause will be used as a shield to prevent disclosure of information relating to even allegations of human rights violation and corruption in such bodies... In effect the NSRA Bill seeks to vest enormous discretion in the hands of such bodies to withhold people's access to information," says the letter.

Gandhi believes that the proposed amendments are a regression in India's journey towards becoming a participatory democracy. "Whereas nuclear power and energy are important for the nation, transparency and democracy are certainly more important and must not be whittled down," he writes.

The letter urges the Prime Minister to take note of the serious apprehensions over the need for transparency in issues related to nuclear energy. "I request you to prevent amendments to the RTI Act which will weaken the fundamental rights of citizens," writes Gandhi to the Prime Minister.

The Times of India, 2 April, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/N-safety-bill-route-to-amend-RTI-irks-CIC/articleshow/12498413.cms


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