Job ad triggers concern about Modi govt's plan to amend RTI Act : By Soni Mishra

THE WEEK: New Delhi: Sunday, July 29, 2018.

In what could be a clear sign of the Narendra Modi government's plans to amend the Right to Information Act, an advertisement issued on Friday with regard to filling up of vacancies in the Central Information Commission and state information commissions did not specify either the salary or the duration of service of the appointees.

The advertisement, which was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, stated that the salary and tenure of the appointees would be “specified at the time of appointment”.

The vagueness maintained in the ad with regard to the salary and tenure of the commissioners has to be read in the backdrop of the government's plans to amend the RTI Act. The amendment to the RTI Act as proposed by the government, but which has run into protests by opposition parties and also RTI activists, would give the government the powers to decide the salaries and term of office of information commissioners. The information commissioners have a fixed tenure of five years at present.

At present, the chief information commissioner enjoys the same service norms and pay scale as the chief election commissioner. Information commissioners at the CIC and state's chief information commissioners are at the same level as election commissioners in terms of salary and other service rules.

The government had planned to introduce the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill 2018 in Parliament last week, and the bill was also circulated among MPs a day before the start of the Monsoon Session.

However, there were vociferous protests to the proposed amendments from opposition parties and RTI activists, forcing the government to postpone its plans of bringing the RTI amendment bill before Parliament.

The government has been criticised for its alleged attempts through the RTI amendment bill to wield control over information commissioners. “The BJP believes the truth must be hidden from the people and they must not question the people in power. The changes proposed to the RTI will make it a useless act,” Congress President Rahul Gandhi had tweeted over a week ago. The opposition parties have demanded that the RTI bill be sent to a parliamentary committee for scrutiny.