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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The People of India Have Protected Their Right to Information Once Again -M Sridhar Acharyulu

The People of India Have Protected Their Right to Information Once Again -M Sridhar Acharyulu

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published Published on Jul 25, 2018   modified Modified on Jul 25, 2018
-TheWire.in

The Centre's decision to defer the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018 – after protests from the public and the opposition – is temporary good news.

Sub-section (5) of Section 13 of the Right to Information Act provided that the salaries and allowance and other terms and conditions of service of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners shall be same as that of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, respectively. Similarly, sub-section (5) of Section 16 of the Act provides that the salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the state chief information commissioner and state information commissioners shall be the same as that of the election commissioner and the chief secretary to the state government, respectively.

The salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the chief election commissioners and election commissioners are equal to a judge of the Supreme Court; therefore, the chief information commissioner, information commissioner and state chief information commissioners become equivalent to a judge of the Supreme Court in terms of their salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service.

The minister for PMO, Jitender Singh, explained the objectives and reasons behind the proposed amendments:

    “The functions being carried out by the Election Commission of India and Central and State Information Commissions are totally different. The Election Commission is a constitutional body established by clause (1) of article 324 of the Constitution and is responsible for the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all election to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of election to the office of President and Vice President held under the Constitution. On the other hand, the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions are statutory bodies established under the provision of the Right to Information Act, 2005. Therefore, the mandate of Election Commission of India and Central and State Information Commissions are different. Hence their status and service conditions need to be rationalised accordingly.”

Chief information commissioner and chief election commissioner enforce Article 19(1)(a)

The premise of the Bill is this misunderstanding about the status of the RTI and the Central Information Commission. The RTI Act 2005 is a Central legislation extending to the entire nation, including all the states except Jammu and Kashmir.

As per the constitutional scheme of distribution of powers between the Centre and states, the Centre cannot make a law for states on the subject of access to records under the control of states. But Centre took shelter under the aim of effectuating fundamental rights under Article 19(1)(a), saying the right to information is intrinsic to this article. While the RTI Act 2005 recognises the sovereign authority of states to select their information commissioners, the Bill of 2018 strangely does not allow states to decide their term, status and salary. The Centre will prescribe it from time to time. This is an affront to federal polity, which is the basic structure of the constitution.

Please click here to read more.

TheWire.in, 20 July, 2018, https://thewire.in/government/right-to-information-act-amendment-bill


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