What are the changes in RTI amendment Bill?
1. In this amendment, it is proposed to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005 so as to provide that the term of office of, and the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of, the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners and the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners, shall be prescribed by the Central Government.
Following this principle, the Government has encouraged suo motu dissemination of maximum information by Government Departments in order to reduce number of RTIs.
2. Also, Section 13 states that salaries, allowances and other terms of service of “The Chief Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of the Chief Election Commissioner”, and those of an Information Commissioner “shall be the same as that of an Election Commissioner”.
The amendment proposes that the salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.
3. Section 16 talks about state-level Chief Information Commissioners and Information Commissioners. It sets the term for state-level CICs and ICs at five years or 65 years of age.
The amendment however proposes that these appointments should be for “such term as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.
Amendments criticized by RTI activists:
RTI activists on Monday slammed passage of a bill amending the Right To Information (RTI) Act in Lok Sabha, terming it an attempt to undermine the democracy and raised objection to the bill being passed without any public consultations on the issue. "It is a matter of grave concern that the amendments to the RTI law were introduced in complete secrecy and in flagrant violation of the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy of the central government, which mandates public disclosure and consultation on draft legislations," RTI activist Aruna Roy said.