New Delhi: Opposing the amendments to the Right to Information Act (RTI), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Monday alleged that the Centre is diluting the basic architecture the Act.
Speaking on behalf of the party in the Lower House, Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab questioned the intent of the Union government behind bringing these amendments. He also termed it as ‘an assault’ on the idea of federalism.
“This is an important Act. The government is diluting the law. This Bill is trying to amend the stature of Chief Information Commission (CIC). This authority will function like a department of the Central government if these amendments are passed. Why are you weakening the fundamental features of the RTI Act,” said Mahtab.
He also said that if the government wants to strengthen the Act, it should fill the vacancies in the Information Commission.
He reminded the House of a pending Whistleblowers’ Protection Bill in the House.
“More than 80 RTI users have been murdered and one Bill has been pending for the security of these RTI users,” Mahtab said.
It is to be mentioned here that the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, introduced by the government in the Lok Sabha proposes to empower the government to fix the term of service of information commissioners among other things. The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha Monday.