Scrap bid to amend RTI

Widespread opposition to the proposed amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) law has forced the government to defer the introduction of the bill in parliament. The government had planned to introduce the bill last week. The amendment bill, if passed, would have enabled the central government to determine the tenure, salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the central and state information commissioners. This would have undermined the independence of the RTI mechanism and given the Centre the power to exercise control over it. Opposition parties, RTI activists and others have expressed serious apprehensions over the amendment bill. In view of the reservations, the government wanted to send it to a select committee after introducing it in parliament. However, strong opposition to even this proposal has prompted the government to announce deferment of the bill. The government should have scrapped the bill altogether, instead of keeping the proposal alive.

A lesson from the working of the RTI law in the country for over a decade is that it should be strengthened further. Instead, the government has sought to weaken it. The Central Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners (IC) and the state CICs and ICs have a five-year term now. The Narendra Modi government wants to change it to a term as prescribed by the central government. This would give the Centre the power to sack them. The government also seeks to prescribe their salaries and other service conditions which were fixed at par with those of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners in the RTI Act, 2005, to ensure that governments couldn’t meddle with the RTI structure. The Modi government’s reasoning is that the CIC and ICs are statutory bodies, created by parliament through legislation, and not constitutional authorities that are mentioned in the Constitution. But this is an excuse. The real aim is to control the RTI mechanism, which has proved to be inconvenient to governments.

It should be noted that nobody, except those in the government, has asked for the changes being proposed now. It only helps the government and the officials if the RTI law is diluted. The working of the law has suffered over the years. The information sought by applicants is not given in time, wrong or inadequate information is given, and penalties are not imposed on officials for their lapses. The government has not appointed information commissioners in time, and requests and appeals have piled up. Governments have tried in the past to change the RTI rules. The attempt now is to downgrade the whole structure and control it. The CIC and the ICs need to be independent of the government for their effective functioning, and so the amendment bill should be dropped altogether.