Economic Times: New Delhi: Friday, January 26, 2018.
The split in
the Central Information Commission, the final appellate authority for Right to
Information (RTI) Act, is wide open. Two information commissioners have openly
questioned the motive behind making public internal discussions and identifying
them for their opposition to government proposed RTI rules.
At the monthly
meeting of the Commission last week, information commissioners Yashovardhan
Azad and M Sridhar Acharyulu, who had earlier opposed provisions of
government's draft RTI rules, questioned the motive behind making public their
opposition and internal discussions in the November meeting of the Commission.
Both Azad and Acharyulu had criticised introduction of new rules that give more
powers to CIC to assign any RTI appeal to a commissioner in larger public
interest.
At a full
Commission meeting in November, Azad and Acharyulu expressed strong
reservations to insertion of a new Rule 15 and said it would be
"misused" by the government.
Last week,
the full Commission meeting called to bid farewell to Manjula Prasher saw the
commissioners pointing out that they had been identified for their opposition
in the minutes of meetings issued.
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