Rahul Gandhi: Government's proposed changes in RTI Act will make it useless

20 July,2018 10:04 AM IST |  New Delhi  |  Agencies

The amendments, if cleared by Parliament, will give the government powers to fix tenures, salaries as well as other terms and conditions of service of information commissioners at the Central Information Commission (CIC)

Rahul Gandhi. Pic/PTI


The government's move to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act will render the law "useless", Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Friday and advocated that "every Indian" should oppose the proposed changes, which seek government control over the salaries and terms of information commissioners. The BJP wants to hide the truth, Gandhi alleged.

The amendments, if cleared by Parliament, will give the government powers to fix tenures, salaries as well as other terms and conditions of service of information commissioners at the Central Information Commission (CIC). "Every Indian deserves to know the truth and the BJP wants to hide the truth. The BJP believes the truth must be hidden from the people and they must not question people in power. The changes proposed to the RTI will make it a useless Act," Gandhi said on Twitter.

He added that the changes being suggested "must be opposed by every Indian". Gandhi tagged a letter by the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, which has challenged the amendments on the ground that they undermine the independence of information commissions.

Under the RTI Act, information commissioners have a fixed tenure of five years or till they attain the age of 65, whichever is earlier. The chief information commissioner gets a salary equivalent to the chief election commissioner, while information commissioners at the CIC are at par with election commissioners. The government said it is considering a proposal to amend the RTI Act, 2005, to frame rules on salaries and services of chief information commissioner and information commissioners.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
rahul gandhi right to information bharatiya janata party national news
Related Stories