Rahul slams move to amend RTI Act

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday hit out at the government's move to amend the RTI Act saying the proposed changes would make the law “useless”.

“The changes proposed to the RTI will make it a useless Act,” Rahul tweeted, joining the chorus of activists against the RTI (Amendment) Bill.

According to the proposed changes, the tenure and salaries of Information Commissioners – both at the central and the state level – would be controlled by the Union government.

“Every Indian has the right to know the truth. The BJP believes the truth must be hidden from the people and they must not question people in power. The changes proposed to the RTI will make it a useless Act. They must be opposed by every Indian,” Rahul said using the hashtag #SaveRTI.

The Bill states that “the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central government.”

The current RTI Act treats Information Commissioners at a par with Election Commissioners in terms of pay, perks and tenure. However, the government has argued that the service conditions of Information Commissioners need to be rationalised as their functions were different from that of Election Commissioners.

CPM leader Sitaram Yechury also opposed the move saying that the RTI Act came into existence from people's struggle and his party would work within Parliament and outside it to ensure that no amendment was made.

“Modi government wants to completely destroy our right to know anything. After all, how else will 'jumlas' and fudged data be pushed if the truth is allowed to come out,” Yechury said.