DNA: Mumbai: Friday, July 29, 2016.
Social worker
Anna Hazare, who played an important role in bringing about the RTI Act, on
Wednesday cautioned against any dilution of the law and said that he would
oppose any such attempt.
dna had
published a news story, exposing efforts by the state government to dilute the
RTI Act. A series of rules the government has proposed and the proposal is
waiting for chief minister Devendra Fadnavis's nod. The rules would enable
government offices to reject RTI applications on the grounds of "need to
freshly collect non-available data and compilation of existing data". The
rules would also enable government offices to reject RTI applications if
information is sought for the sake of justification.
It is feared
that the rules, if notified, will hinder implementation of the RTI Act, slowly
killing its spirit. The proposed rules may also make sure that public
information officers (PIOs) are not held accountable for not giving
information.
Hazare called
on Fadnavis at Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday. When asked for his response to dna
story on efforts by the government to dilute the RTI Act, Hazare said:
"The Act is meant for bringing about transparency since people are owners
and rulers are servants of society. If any effort is made to dilute the RTI Act
to either hide information or avoid giving it away, I would oppose it."
Hazare
stressed that people have every right to question the government on every
single rupee spent from the taxpayer's money.
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