Indian
Express: New Delhi: Thursday, November 01, 2012.
More than six
years after it gave the go-ahead to amend the RTI Act, 2005 to, among other
things, exclude public notings on files by officials from being accessed under
the transparency law, the Cabinet is expected to withdraw the move when it
meets on Thursday.
Sources told
The Indian Express that the decision comes after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi
indicated to the government her opposition to the proposed changes. RTI
activists had experts had questioned the logic, with several National Advisory
Council (NAC) members like Aruna Roy also criticising the proposed amendments.
In July 2006,
the Cabinet had cleared the amendments, which has been finalised after many
government departments and organisations like the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC). Another amendment cleared by the Cabinet on the demand of
the UPSC was aimed at exempting the competitive examination process from the RTI
ambit. The proposal was to amend Section 2 (i)(a) of the RTI Act.
However, the
enabling Bill was never introduced in Parliament due to strong opposition by
the activists.
While the
government had taken the stand that file notings were exempted under the
transparency laws in countries like the US, UK and Australia, the activists had
said that there was no need for the amendments.
The then
Central Information Commissioner O P Kejriwal had also criticised the decision
to exclude file notings from the purview of the RTI, saying it would take “life
out of the law”.
However, the
government is still to take a final decision on amending the Act to safeguard
the sensitivity of the office of the Chief Justice of India. Aruna Roy had
termed the amendments as an attempt by the government shield corrupt
bureaucrats.
Earlier this
month, addressing the annual convention of Information Commissioners, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh had expressed concern over “frivolous and vexatious use
of the RTI Act”.
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