Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on July 25 passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The development comes after the Opposition had asserted that it will refer the bill to a Joint Select Committee over transparency concerns.
Differences between the Opposition and treasury benches had emerged in the Rajya Sabha over sending the RTI Bill to a Select Committee for further scrutiny, forcing two adjournments in the post-lunch period.
The controversial bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha on July 22 amid strong opposition protests.
The bill seeks to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005. Through the amendment, the government would be enabled to changing the term of Information Commissioners, determine and carry out deductions in their salaries. It also changes the status of the Information Commissioners, who were on a par with Election Commissioners as per the original RTI Act.
The Opposition came down heavily on the NDA government with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi saying that the RTI Act now stands on the “brink of extinction”. Rejecting the Opposition’s charge that the Bill would weaken the RTI Act, the government had said it was fully committed to transparency and autonomy of the institution.
