RTI amendment bill will dilute transparency of the law: Activist Anjali Bhardwaj

RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj claimed that the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 will dilute the transparency of the law. She also added that it is a threat to the fundamental rights of the citizens.

New Delhi: A bill proposing to give the Centre the power to set the tenure and salaries of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioners was passed in the Lok Sabha faces amid strong objection from the Opposition.

The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed after the division of votes with 178 members favouring it and 79 against it.

While talking exclusively to ETV Bharat RTI Activist Anjali Bhardwaj said, "The Right to Information Act gives people democratic rights, if people do not have information, they will not be able to use the freedom of expression and this is a threat to their fundamental rights."

She further said that "people demand information from the government with the RTI act and seek information for the fulfilment of their fundamental rights, but the RTI amendment law brought by Modi Government will completely weaken this law and hence we are opposing it".

The Latest amendment removes the statutory protection of tenure, salaries, allowances and conditions of service given to the central and state Information Commissioners, who are the final adjudicators of information requests.

Instead, it says that their tenure and salaries shall be 'as prescribed by the Central Government'. The changes undermine the autonomy of the commissioners tasked with implementing the law.