Congress chief Rahul Gandhi opposed the proposed amendments to the Right To Information Act, 2005 suggested by the Central government of Bharatiya Janata Party. He said if the changes will be implemented it will make the bill ‘useless’. He also remarked that the changes “must be opposed by every Indian.”
Gandhi took to Twitter to express his view, “Every Indian has the right to know the truth. The BJP believes the truth must be hidden from the people and they must not question people in power.”
Apart from the Congress chief RTI activists also opposed the proposed changes. Vijay Kumbhar, RTI activist wrote, “It is a move aimed at completely wrecking the autonomy and independence of the RTI Act. When the Act itself provides for the salaries and tenures of the information commission, why is there a need for the government to meddle with it.”
The proposed amendments were circulated among the MPs, they “seek to do away with the parity given to information commissions with the Election Commission in terms of salary, allowances and conditions of service,” as reported by The Indian Express.
The Hindu reported that the Central Government announced that it wants to introduce amendments to the RTI Act, 2005 to ‘frame rules’ on salaries and services of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners.