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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s call for a critical review of the RTI Act came under sharp attack from the Information Commissioners and activist Aruna Roy, who said there should not be any tinkering with the legislation.
Summing up the events of the two-day annual CIC convention attended by 65 information commissioners and experts, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said they were of the view that “the ambit of the RTI Act should not be constricted. It should instead be strengthened. The RTI Act should not be amended at this stage and should be retained as it is. It is not the time for making any amendment in it.”
Speaking at the same Convention, the Prime Minister had said the Act had been effective, but there were ‘concerns that it could discourage honest, well-meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views’, in other words called for a critical review of the Act.
Roy, who is also a member of the NAC headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said: “The RTI Act is strengthening the foundations of democracy in India. Efforts made to dilute and weaken by the PM or anybody else have to be resisted at any cost whether by writing letters or carrying out dharnas or other means,” said Roy while speaking to reporters after a lecture on good governance organised at the International Centre Goa.
She also said the silence from civil society over exclusion of the CBI from the RTI was ominous and did not bode well for transparency in the country’s administration.
In response to Singh’s comments Roy said, “The job of the bureaucrat is to make notings on the file. He is paid to do his job. If they do not do it, remove them.”
Summing up the events of the two-day annual CIC convention attended by 65 information commissioners and experts, Chief Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra said they were of the view that “the ambit of the RTI Act should not be constricted. It should instead be strengthened. The RTI Act should not be amended at this stage and should be retained as it is. It is not the time for making any amendment in it.”
Speaking at the same Convention, the Prime Minister had said the Act had been effective, but there were ‘concerns that it could discourage honest, well-meaning public servants from giving full expression to their views’, in other words called for a critical review of the Act.
Roy, who is also a member of the NAC headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said: “The RTI Act is strengthening the foundations of democracy in India. Efforts made to dilute and weaken by the PM or anybody else have to be resisted at any cost whether by writing letters or carrying out dharnas or other means,” said Roy while speaking to reporters after a lecture on good governance organised at the International Centre Goa.
She also said the silence from civil society over exclusion of the CBI from the RTI was ominous and did not bode well for transparency in the country’s administration.
In response to Singh’s comments Roy said, “The job of the bureaucrat is to make notings on the file. He is paid to do his job. If they do not do it, remove them.”
