M A I N   N E W S

Govt blinks, not to amend RTI Act
Amendments may be withdrawn at Cabinet meeting today
Anita Katyal/TNS

New Delhi, October 31
The UPA government has backtracked on its move to amend the Right to Information Act (RTI) following strong protests from civil society activists.

The amendments to the UPA government’s landmark legislation were cleared by the Cabinet way back in 2006 but could not be implemented because of stiff opposition from NGOs and activists who said the changes would dilute the Bill. These amendments are expected to be formally withdrawn at tomorrow’s meeting of the Union Cabinet.

The campaign against these proposals was led by Aruna Roy, member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) which had provided important inputs in the drafting of the Bill. Roy had also led a delegation to Sonia Gandhi to protest the changes in the Act.

UPA sources said the Central Information Commission (CIC) was also not in favour of amending the Act.The Commission felt since the legislation was still evolving, it would not be fair to amend it at this early stage.

According to these amendments, “file notings “ by officials would be excluded from the purview of the RTI Act.

It was proposed that “only substantial notings relating to social and development issues” would be made available to citizens to see and read. This would have meant that though the final decisions would be made public, the reasons on the basis on which they were taken would not be available. It was also proposed that the selection process of civil servants by public authorities like the UPSC be kept out of the RTI Act. This amendment will also be withdrawn.

The functioning of the RTI Act has been a subject of an intense debate. There is a growing view in the government that the legislation has had an adverse impact on governance as it has delayed decision-making.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also joined the debate recently when he voiced concern over “frivolous and vexatious" use of the RTI Act and favoured public-private partnerships (PPP) be exempt from the purview of the law.

The PM’s remarks came in for strong criticism from activists, led by Roy, who charged that his observations indicated that the proposal to dilute the RTI Act had support from the “highest quarters”.

The "concerns expressed by the PM will support and pass a signal to those who want to dilute and weaken the Act that these have support from the highest quarters," a group of activists had said in a signed statement.