The Hindu: New Delhi: Monday, June 18, 2018.
An activist
has accused the government of “illegally” withholding information about
amendments proposed to the Right to Information Act, 2005, after her plea
seeking details about the procedure followed was turned down.
RTI activist
Anjali Bharadwaj wrote to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) last
month demanding to know when were the amendments to the Act proposed and
forwarded to the Union Cabinet. She sought details about the consultative
process followed by the government before bringing the amendments and wanted to
know whether the government had placed the draft of the revised legislation in
the public domain. She demanded a copy of the draft law.
In response,
the DoPT refused to provide any details. “The matter regarding amendments in
the RTI Act, 2005 is under consideration and has not reached finality. As per
section 8(i)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005, information requested by you cannot be
supplied at this stage,” the DoPT wrote to Ms. Bharadwaj last week.
The clause
cited exempts the government from giving information about Cabinet papers,
including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and
other officers.
“The
government has confirmed that it is planning to amend the RTI Act but has
illegally refused to share details of the amendment Bill,” said Ms. Bharadwaj.
She objected
to the government declining to share details of the consultation process as it
was not an exercise restricted to the Cabinet or government officials but
involved the wider community and was not exempt under the section of the RTI
Act cited by the DoPT.
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