TOI; MUMBAI, Saturday, November 03, 2012
The Union Cabinet's
decision to stall the dilution of the Right To Information Act is a
small victory for transparency campaigns in the country. The National Campaign
for Peoples' Right to Information (NCPRI) welcomed the government's decision to
withdraw the controversial draft amendments it had sought. The controversial
provisions pertained to restricting the disclosure of file notings only to
social and development issues. This effectively means that citizens now retain
their right to access file notings on any issue of governance barring certain
areas such as national security.
However,
the struggle for transparency is far from over. The government should now clear
the confusion about the appointment of information commissioners at the
state-level. The Centre had earlier decided to appeal to
the apex court which in a recent order had suggested that only
retired judges be appointed to the posts. This had stalled the working of any
information commissions, for want of clarity.
The NCPRI also
hopes that other governance related legislations pending in the Parliament be
debated, strengthened and passed in the upcoming winter session of the
Parliament. These include the Lokpal Bill, Grievance Redress Bill,
Judicial Accountability and Standards Bill and the Whistleblowers' Protection
Bill, some of which have been pending for decades.
"These
legislations, along with a strong RTI Act, will go a long way in
restoring peoples' faith in governance, dealing with issues of corruption and
creating an atmosphere conducive for avibrant democracy," said Nikhil
Dey of the NCPRI in a joint statement alongwith Anjali Bhardwaj, Venkatesh
Nayak, Ramakrishna Raju and Angela Rangad.
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