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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | ‘No changes to RTI Act without consulting people’ by Anita Joshua

‘No changes to RTI Act without consulting people’ by Anita Joshua

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published Published on Nov 18, 2009   modified Modified on Nov 18, 2009

Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Prithviraj Chavan, is understood to have assured the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) that no changes would be made in the RTI Act without wider consultations.

According to an NCPRI release, the Minister assured their delegation that the government would not take a final decision on the proposed changes in the RTI Act before “consulting the people.” Further, he indicated that the government would prepare a position paper which would be available in public domain to facilitate wide consultation.

The delegation led by Aruna Roy and Shekhar Singh met Mr. Chavan on Monday as part of the ongoing efforts to get the government to rollback the proposed amendments to the RTI Act. The NCPRI contention is that instead the government should make public the problems it is facing in implementing the Act and give people an opportunity to suggest solutions instead of amending the legislation itself.

In particular, the delegation raised the proposed exclusion of the deliberative process including file notings and sought to impress upon the Minister that the current exemptions in the Act were adequate to protect public interest. They also invited the government to inform the public about aspects in the deliberative process that should not be disclosed.

As for the proposal to exclude “vexatious and frivolous” applications, the NCPRI pointed out that it would be difficult to define what constitutes vexatious and frivolous.

Since it is a subjective matter, a provision for exclusion could be misused.

According to the NCPRI, there were other more effective ways of ensuring that such applications do not adversely affect government functioning, including the more effective implementation of the provision for pro-active disclosure.


The Hindu, 18 November, 2009, http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/18/stories/2009111860581200.htm
 

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