JOIN US The Congress on Monday accused the Modi government of running away from providing transparent governance by mulling amendments to RTI rules.
“The government is apprehensive that if the RTI paradigm is not diluted, a lot of things may come out in the public space which may not be very well disposed towards them,” AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.
The Draft RTI Rules put up on the Department of Personnel and Training website seeks to put a 500 word limit on the application, which would be required to be made online.
The proposed rules also asks the applicant to bear the cost of information he/she has sought under the Right to Information Act.
The applicant may have to pay the market price of the publication he has sought under RTI or pay Rs 2 per page towards photocopy charges, against Re 1 per page charged currently.
“The entire intent of the RTI was that by depositing a fee or Rs 10 and giving an application, you would be able to access whatever information is available on that subject with the government at the government’s cost. That intent is being diluted,” Tewari said.
The Congress leader said even during the UPA rule, there were demands from within the government for diluting the RTI Act, but the same were resisted strongly.
“We chose to stay the course because we believed that it is in the larger interest that the citizens should know as to how their government functions,” Tewari said.