Another Toothless Commission!

There was a walkout by the opposition, protests were staged across the capital, activists were shoved into police vans, letters were written to the President urging him to not sign the amendment and yet the central government was finally able to hit a six in its second attempt this year to amend the RTI (Right to Information) Act!

- Shweta Menon

Eight days after the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the RTI Amendment Bill, 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind who was a part of a committee that vociferously advocated the idea to assign a high status to Information Commissions in order to ensure their independence, signed the bill. The game-changer for the Centre proved to be a U-turn by the Biju Janata Dal, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the YSR Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha, that ultimately lent their support to the Bill.

The recent amendment has made three primary changes in the law: 1) The bill removed the provision of a five-year tenure of CIC (Chief Information Commissioner) and ICs (Information Commissioners) which would now be notified by the central government; 2) The bill has also removed provisions related to the salary of the CIC and IC which was earlier equivalent to that of Election Commissioners and would now be determined by the government; and, 3) If the CIC or IC has been receiving pension, the government can now revise or downgrade their salaries to match the amount of pension they receive.

These amendments come at a time when there has been pressure to bring political parties and their means of funding under the ambit of the Act. Not surprisingly enough, the party that broke all records in terms of expenditure incurred during the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was the BJP that spent 40-50 per cent of the total expenditure.