The Hindu: New Delhi: Friday, July 20, 2018.
Changes
proposed to the Act will make it useless: Rahul Gandhi
The
government did not move the controversial Right to Information (Amendment) Bill
2018, which proposes to give the Centre the power to set the tenure and
salaries of State and Central Information Commissioners, following pressure
from the Opposition parties to send the legislation first to a select committee
for further scrutiny.
On Thursday,
during the morning meeting with Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu, the
Opposition parties told him that the Bill should be sent to a select committee.
According to
sources, Mr. Naidu placated the Opposition saying that the Bill was not slated
for debate on Thursday. He asked the Opposition members to demand that the Bill
be sent to a select committee when it is placed for discussion.
Unacceptable:
CPI
“In its
current form, the Bill is not acceptable. It will defeat the very purpose of
the Right to Information Act. The government is in a hurry to pass the Bill, we
can’t let that happen,” CPI leader D. Raja said.
This morning,
Congress president Rahul Gandhi too had raised questions about the Bill. “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,” Mr. Gandhi said on Twitter.
Mr. Gandhi
tagged a letter by the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information,
which has challenged the amendments on the grounds that they undermine the
independence of information commissions.
The
government is likely to move the Bill on Monday.
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